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‘Gifts sorted thanks to a late night scroll on my phone’ by Olivia Wayne

14th November is my son Ozzie’s birthday. The minute that day passes it is like the alarm goes off that Christmas is in exactly six weeks and before that it is Chanukah. Chanukah is the festival for Jews celebrating miracles. The miracle of one small bottle of oil lighting candles, which burned for eight days. So on this particular festival of light, we celebrate for eight days. Eating fried oily foods like donuts and potato latkes. We play games, we light and candles and we exchange small personal gifts. It really is a lovely festival and it is definitely an exciting one – did I mention it is eight days of presents!

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This year I wanted to do something a bit more personal and special rather than the usual plastic and tacky bric-a-brac. It has been a really hard year for my family. My father passed away this summer after an arduous and awful battle with cancer and so although not many miracles took place during that period, what we do have is our memories and photos.

It is really important to me that my two year-old son has a strong memory and presence of his grandpa in his everyday life. He adored his “bampa” and his “bampa” adored him. For my mum and for my baby boy, I wanted to pick one of my favourite photos of grandfather and grandson and turn it into a large canvas, which could go on Ozzie’s bedroom wall and also a lovely reminder in my mum’s house. This photo will forever remind me of a happy trip away that we all took – the last time we got to all relax together, a really sacred and special memory.

Another important image that always comes to mind is that of the next generation. My brother has two children and I have one son and its amazing watching them all grow up together. On my nephew’s birthday we had a photo altogether which was probably the only time all three kids have sat next to each other for the exact same moment, and my brother and I happened to be sat with them AND it got captured on camera! It is not the greatest picture as my brother is mid-flow during a Peppa Pig story but I love how it was a candid, real life moment documented on camera with us together.

So I mentioned Ozzie was two – and his birthday was a complete success. By that I mean he wasn’t ill and miserable like he was on his first birthday! We went to the zoo for the first time and he absolutely adored seeing the animals…especially the tigers. We snapped him a lot that day – I mean how is he two already?! There were some great shots but one in particular of him looking back over his shoulder smiling summed up a wonderful day. So clearly my mum, my mother-in-law and my husband needed that picture blown up on a canvas to look at always!

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The last order I placed was for my husband. On our first year anniversary he made me a collage of little square images from our honeymoon – and every time I look at it, I smile as I am transported back to the hustling Hong Kong streets and the magical Bali rainforest. I wanted to create a similar collage where each image reminds him of wonderful moments and memories in our little family, with Ozzie on holiday, being away for his dad’s 75th birthday, special moments in the park, cuddles, rainy days and everything in between.

It was so fun and special selecting the nine images for this framed magnet collage and the way its displayed takes out ALL the hassle and effort of putting it together on your own. I absolutely adore this one and know it will have pride of place in his music studio.

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So Chanukah gifts are sorted thanks to a late night cup of tea and scroll on my phone. There was such minimal effort involved in creating these gifts but the joy and happiness they will bring will be unparalleled! Happy Chanukah.

About Olivia

Olivia Wayne is a sports journalist, TV presenter and avid fitness fan. She is a mum to two year old Ozzie.

Last modified: 52months ago

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