father Christmas and my grandmother

I have a picture of my grandmother that I cherish.  It is a very old photograph, all in sepia colours (brown and yellow)  In the picture she is only 12 years old, wearing her best dress and a silk bow in her hair.  She was the eldest of 12 children.  You can see her earnest face.  In front of her are one of her (many) brothers and sisters.   My grandmother was born in 1908, and she lived a great life.  She lived through a first worldwar when she was a little girl of 6, and the battlefield was right here in Flanders Fields... and a second worldwar when she was married and mother of 5 children herself.  When she was 16, she was sent to the capital, Brussels, to be a servant to a wealthy family.  That's were she taught herself to speak French.  And that's where she made so many beautiful embroidery to fill her evenings.
When my mum married, she came to live with us and she took care of me when my mum was at work.  She taught me all about knitting, crocheting and embroidery, even before I could write...  Now I've put father christmas next to her picture.  Her name is Madeleine Vanhoutte, but I called her mémé.  Maybe one day I should write a book about her life, it's such a complicated, but nice story.

I found this lovely old frame, just right for her picture !