First day of Advent- the tradition continues

My calendar arrived yesterday. I was actually starting to worry/wonder as to where it was. Every year since I was born, Judith has sent me an advent calendar. She worked with my mum many years ago - and has kept up the tradition every single year for the last 40 years. Considering my mum has been gone for 24 years, the fact that she has continued to send me a calendar every year blows me away. I was just the snot-nosed kid of a casual friend from the office and yet every year she makes the effort. Other than our annual Christmas cards/calendars to each other we have no other contact, no letters, no phone calls, no visits. It's just our Christmas thing. It's a tradition that even the boy has come to expect. He broke into the most amazing smile when he came home from work yesterday and saw the calendar sitting out on the wallunit in the living room. Funny how the "small" things mean the most - even to him!

I assume she must be in her mid 70's by now. She has no family that I know of and so if anything were to ever happen to her I would probably never find out until the year the calendar doesn't arrive.