Dear Elena… April is a fun month because it is the month of Easter! Easter is the celebration of when Jesus Christ, the most important person in the Christian faith, rose from the dead. Today we celebrate this momentous day with Easter egg hunts because eggs are a symbol of life. Bunny rabbits are also a symbol of Easter and that is why Mommy has chosen one of her most favorite books to share with you. It is THE VELVETEEN RABBIT by Margery Williams
As you know, our pet Belvedere is a rabbit who loves you very much; in fact, his name is derived from this book! The Velveteen Rabbit is a beautiful story about a bunny that is given to a little boy. It is made out of velveteen, the softest of soft material. At first the rabbit is kept with all the other toys in the nursery. There the Skin Horse tells him how a toy can become real. He explains that it happens over time, once your buttons come off, your seams come loose and your fur is thin and shabby. When that happens, you know you are truly loved.
One day the boy started sleeping with the velveteen rabbit. Nana asked, “Why do you sleep with a rabbit that is only a toy?” The boy responded, “No he’s not, he’s Real!” When the boy got sick the doctor told Nana to burn all of the toys that he had slept with because they were filled with scarlet fever. The velveteen rabbit was put in a sack to be burned the following morning. How could this happen if I am Real, thought the rabbit. Then a real tear came out of his eye and fell on the ground and there the most beautiful flower bloomed and in it was the most gorgeous fairy. She asked the rabbit, “Do you recognize me?” She said, “I am the nursery fairy and when it’s time for the boy's truly loved toys to become real, I change them. And so the fairy kissed and hugged him over and over. She told the other rabbits to be kind and to look after him because he is new. One day the boy was in the yard and gazed upon the rabbit thinking he looked so familiar, but he never knew it was really his own bunny, who had come back to the boy.
Elena, there is so much I want to tell you about how special this book is. Let’s talk about “real.” Though the bunny was a stuffed animal, the boy loved him. To the boy, he was real. Now the process of the velveteen rabbit becoming alive has to do with magic. Magic is when something incredible happens and there’s no explanation. For it to work, you must believe.
Elena, I hope you always believe in magic because you have brought magic to my life. Once you were born, suddenly every ounce of Mommy’s life became real. Every molecule in the air became filled with new meaning because of how special you are. Something like that is pure magic. Your mommy and daddy are both so grateful to you for bringing that level of beauty to our lives.
We love you forever and ever, our magical little beauty… Happy Easter.