Nana

I have a favorite aunt. (Is it ok to have a favorite? I know we aren't supposed to have a favorite child, but isn't it ok to have a favorite relative??) Nana is one of my mom's older sisters. She lived in Virginia and we lived in Missouri. On holidays she always called wherever the family was gathered and spoke to each of us, making us feel important and loved. When I was a little girl to encourage my siblings and I to write to her, Nana would mail us postcards. I began saving all those postcards and decided to collect them. She sent me an album to keep them in. I began picking up postcards wherever I went. At last count (over 15 years ago) I had over 1,000. Who knows how many there are now. She still sends me postcards when she travels and she enjoys traveling a lot.

Nana and Me

When I was a teenager her military husband was transferred to Illinois for a few years. I got to see a lot more of her then because she was so much closer and weekend trips were sometimes feasible. The summer I was 16 or 17 I went to stay with her for 10 days. I still have many fond memories of that time. She took me to many places in St. Louis, including the St. Louis Zoo and the Gateway Arch. It is a tradition now for Nana to have tea parties with her grandchildren when she visits. Nana and I even had a "tea party" that summer I visited her. My uncle and her daughters were all downstairs watching tv and Nana was upstairs reading. I went upstairs to visit with her and my cousin Jennifer made us tea and served it in her best tea set. I felt so privileged. She still has that tea set.

Nana takes lots of pictures. Lots. and lots. (more than even I) She has always encouraged my artwork and my photography. This is a photo of the arch in St. Louis.

This is Nana, my nephew Brandon, and my daughter Heather (summer 1992). Nana had moved back to Virginia by this time. Heather and I had flown to Missouri to visit family and Nana was visiting at the same time. She has always been very involved in Girls Scouts and camp and brought all the babies matching camp tshirts.

Nana and I are usually both back in Missouri for Thanksgiving. Here she's making molasses taffy. Somewhere I have some great pictures of this evening. Somewhere...

After making taffy, we all went outside to roast marshmallows on the fire.

One of those Thanksgiving trips "home" Nana treated us to the Rockettes in Branson. It was a fabulous show and we enjoyed it so much!!!

All the time I lived in Missouri I had never gone to Branson during the holidays. I had always wanted to see the Christmas lights in Silver Dollar City. So, after the Rockettes show, we headed to Silver Dollar City to do just that! This is one of the floats in the parade.

In one of the shops there was a Santa statue so we all took turns sitting on Santa's lap!!!

This is a photo I snapped of the little old church in Silver Dollar City, just as the sun was setting.

Here is our whole group that day. (Nana has always said we are a "motley looking crew." I tend to agree with her.)

I love it when Nana comes to visit me in Texas. We find new places to explore each time she comes. These pictures were taken during her visit a couple of years ago when we went to Gruene.

Our waiter snapped our picture for us.

Thanks Nana for always making me feel special and always supporting me! You're one in a million and I can't wait until your next visit!!!

These are the scrapbook pages I created for a celebration for Nana a couple of years ago.