Paper cranes

Folded paper cranes on my keyboard

Last night my only grandchild opened the wings of these four paper cranes made by a poet friend, Marj Evasco. It is Marj's Christmas tradition to fold paper to shape these cranes.

Kai, my little one, was supposed to make four wishes, the wise poet said in her letter: one for herself, one for her family, one for her pet dog and one for the planet Earth, her home.

I got teary-eyed when I read the letter aloud to her, this child who has taken to also writing letters via snail mail, designing her own stationery pads with origami paper which she spells "organic papar" and wishing her pen pals "Amare Christmas" after her favorite Italian restaurant Amare La Cucina at Albergo Hotel, Villamor Drive, Baguio.

Today my husband will hang the cranes on our Christmas tree, and I will make a silent wish that Kai, who now owns a child-size fountain pen, will remain the way she is for a very long time.

'Kai ligaya ng buhay'

For that witty pun on my grandchild's name I have Manong Ed Maranan to thank, he being the master of the art of punning.

I failed to make my November trip to the post office, the time of year when I mail handwritten Christmas cards. There was just a lot of reading, writing, correcting of papers, proofreading of book galleys to attend to.

So I succumbed to the 21st-century convenience of a Christmas family letter with a picture of "Kai ligaya" attached in my email to over 200 contacts. You can imagine how much I spend on stamps for individual cards in a year! Well, I'm often reminded by environmentalists to reduce my paper trail by going electronic in my mail. So there.

Since the adjectival response to the photo of "Kai ligaya" has ranged from "adorable" to "cutie" to "she looks like one of my apos," I thought I'd post one more pic in this space for a Christmas-y and merry feel.

Posing by the Christmas tree of Gardenville Hotel in Green Valley, Baguio City Photo by Booboo Babeth