“Mommy, don’t go,” my three­year­old son screamed as I walked to the door. My fifteen­year­old leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms folded across his chest, not screaming, but glaring at me as I pulled his little brother off my legs.

“Are you mad at me too?”

“You spend all your time taking care of other people’s kids, but what about us?” Dylan left angrily.

“Get dressed. You are going with me,” I said.

I went on to explain that it took a team of volunteer medical staff to get Hector to the hospital from his remote village and care for him while he was there. Still, Dylan seemed unimpressed.

We stopped at a convenience store for water and snacks. Dylan had one large and one small Slurpee (思乐冰饮料). He said the small one was for Hector. I doubted whether the little guy would be able to drink it, but remained silent. This was the first interest Dylan had shown in being there. I wasn’t about to ruin it.

I stopped at the nurses’ station to check on Hector’s progress while Dylan went to his room. Our patient was recovering physically, but the nurse was concerned that Hector was struggling emotionally. She said, “Kids usually bounce back fast, but he hardly speaks and never smiles.”

Imagine my surprise when I heard laughter from Hector’s room

On the way home that night, Dylan asked me several times whether Hector would be okay.

The new year was coming and my family began to make this year’s plan for it. “The weather report says this unseasonably warm weather will continue through the week. We could shake things up and celebrate the new year with a picnic party in the backyard!” said my mum.

“Our San Francisco weather can be pretty unpredictable,” said my dad. “Maybe we should come up with a sensible indoor plan.” Then he continued, “Hey! Why not start this year with something different? ”

“Yeah!” my little brother, Tex, agreed.

“It’ll be a great!” said Mom. Then she turned to my cousin, Mareya, who was staying with me, “Mareya, we’d love to have you and your family join us. And how about we invite Ollie and Grandma? ”

We all cheered. And after the fastest kitchen cleanup in history, Mareya and I raced over to Ollie’s. Grandma was also excited and suggested we get out the instruments and make a little music.

Grandma’s music suggestion got us thinking. Ollie, Mareya, and I made up a simple song, and somehow, it turned into an idea for a play! Later that afternoon, we went back to my house to find out the costume box. Naturally, my little brother and sister joined right in.

We made up a play, in which the forest animals threw a party to celebrate the arrival of the New Year Queen. Fast-forward to New Year’s Day when we worked all morning to set up our backyard stage. We prepared some flowers and a basket of pine nuts (松子) to greet the Queen when she stepped on the stage.

Unfortunately, the weather that morning was so windy and cold that we all felt freezing. Mum suggested us giving the performance indoors. But we insisted on showing the play outside, as we had all set up for it in the yard. Mum then said that we could start with the play outside, and then had the food inside. Everyone agreed.

Once our audience were seated, Ollie opened the show. When we were half way through the performance, right in the middle of our song-and-dance scene, a strong wind blew! Suddenly, there was a mess as everybody hurried to pick things up. But afterward, the air was calm again.

“The show must go on!” Grandma called from the audience.

Attracted by the smell of pine nuts dropped on the ground, two real squirrels (松鼠) ran onto the stage.

It was at least two months before Christmas when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bicycle. Her old Barbie bicycle was just too babyish, and besides, it needed a new tire.

As Christmas drew nearer, her desire for a bicycle seemed to fade, —or so we thought, as she didn’t mention it again. Merrily, we started purchasing the latest fashion—Baby Sitter’s Club dolls—and beautiful story books, a doll house, a holiday dress and toys. Then, much to our surprise, on December 23rd, she proudly announced that she “really wanted a bike more than anything else.”

Now we didn’t know what to do. It was just too late, with all the details of preparing Christmas dinner and buying last-minute gifts. So here we were—Christmas Eve around 9:00 p.m., having just returned from a wonderful party, looking forward to our evening ahead—hours of wrapping children’s presents, parents’ presents, a brother’s presents and friends’ presents. With Almie Rose and her six-year-old brother, Dylan, lay comfortably in their beds. Now we could only think of the bicycle, the guilt and the idea that we were parents who would disappoint their child.

“What if I make a little bicycle out of clay (黏土) and she can trade it for a real one later?” my husband Ron thought.

On Christmas morning, we were excited for Almie to open the package with the clay bike.