A Year of Cherishing Moments

Prang and Company of Boston published Baby’s Lullaby Book: Mother Songs by Charles Stuart Pratt in 1888. I don’t know anything about the book, except that:

One company online is selling a first edition for almost $2,000 (the book cover is silk),
The illustrations are sweet, sentimental, and beautiful, and
The illustrations celebrate the wonder of children and families.

I found several illustrations from this book during a recent search of prints and photographs from the Library of Congress. Below I have included the twelve illustrations which are designated for the months of the year. In many of these illustrations, a mother is leisurely enjoying her child.

We might be tempted to believe that these mamas have a staff of servants making it possible for them to enjoy leisure with their children, but I’d like to look at them a different way. I want to pretend that each of these mamas is busy all day long, but she has chosen to make room for quiet moments in the midst of that busyness to enjoy, admire, and adore her children. In the pictures that are of children only, I’m imagining that their mamas are doing what the mama in April is doing. She is watching with admiration from a hidden place nearby.

I can’t identify with a mama of leisure, but I can identify with a mama who relishes precious moments, makes room for many of them, and who treasures her children every minute.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Paul wrote a beautiful description of his relationship with the Christians in Thessalonica. We mamas know exactly how he felt:

But we proved to be gentle among you,
as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.
Having so fond an affection for you,
we were well-pleased to impart to you
not only the gospel of God
but also our own lives,
because you had become very dear to us.
1 Thessalonians 2:7-8