My Grandma raised my mom, then me, and when I had kids, she helped me babysit them. She spared no effort to properly prepare for their arrival — she bought gifts, and clothes, and cooked their favorite foods. If she knew that her great-grandchildren were coming, she would start preparing several days in advance, and the night before their arrival she would bake pies and put the dough for pancakes. A visit to Grandma Nina, as the children called her, was a holiday for them.

Grandma saved every ruble to buy something for the children. And we were not allowed to give her any expensive gifts. She took offense and expressed her displeasure in every possible way if we bought her anything of any value for the holiday. She accepted only pictures of her great-grandchildren as a gift from me with pleasure. But still, the most desirable gift for her was drawings of children. She kept them in folders and often went through them. My mother attached them with needles to the wallpaper on the wall so that she could always admire them, and the presence of these drawings in the kitchen pleased my Grandma most of all.