Annika and the vowels

For her very first Christmas, the vowels brought their gifts to Annika. A went first. She gave Annika three A’s—a big one and two little ones. “For your first name,” she said. “To start it off right, and to end it up right, and one for the middle of your middle name.” And Annika was happy, because it was just what she needed.

E was next. Sometimes she was called silent E, but to Annika she said: “Two E’s for your last name and one for your middle name.” And Annika smiled for, again, they were just what she needed.

I brought two little I’s for Annika, and a surprise. It was her own little joke. “Something for your eyes,” she said. And I gave her the sparkle and dance that make Annika’s eyes so beautiful, and that make her whole face light up and her whole being come alive.

O took the gift of an O out of a box and offered it to Annika. It was only one little O, but this too was just right, for it fit right in with all of the A’s and E’s, and I’s to give Annika Lorraine the most beautiful name that anyone had ever heard.

U did something unusual. She held out a little button to pin on, with a big heart in the middle, and an I up above, and a big U underneath. “He asked me to sing you this song,” U said. “U are so beautiful to me…”

Annika looked at the last little vowel, and though she couldn’t yet talk, she had a look on her face that itself was a question, a lilting question that floated in the air like a happy breeze. And Y, very shy, somehow understood that Annika was asking her, “Why? Why do birds sing? Why are skies blue? Why do I feel so happy even when I am sad, so close even when I am far away?” And Y said simply, “Because you are loved.”

Then all the vowels came together, in no particular order, to say ‘Merry Christmas to you.’ And Annika smiled because she knew they meant it. And they smiled at her because happiness comes from giving and as everyone knows, there is only one true gift that we can give at Christmas time, or any other time of the year, and this is the gift of ourselves. This is the gift of the vowels. It is the gift of the magi, the gift where giver and gift are one.

As the vowels filed out, U left a little poem behind.

You are the U in laughter, and you are the U in sun.
You are the U’s in enthuse and amuse, and you are the U in fun.

You are the U in music, in blue like the skies above.
You are the gift I am all wrapped up in—the sweet little you I love.