It was December 14, 1933 and Emma was so excited that her father would be home for Christmas in less than two weeks. It had been over six months since she had last seen him. Emma's father was Captain John H. Smith, captain of the "Queen of Bermuda'' ocean liner.

She had last heard from him two months ago, when she received a letter that had been delivered on the H.M.S. Fort Hamilton. Emma and her mother had been thrilled to learn that Captain Smith had been given the New York to Bermuda voyage. Previously he had been captain of the `Queen Elizabeth', and traveled between New York and London. He was rarely home, but when he was, Emma loved to listen to the fascinating stores of his journeys.

She especially loved hearing about all of the tall buildings and fabulous stores where you could buy whatever your heart desired. In each letter she wrote to her father, Emma would give him a lit of all of the toys she wanted.

Now her father was coming back, and she would be getting all of the toys she had asked for! "Toys, toys, toys. All for me!'' Emma would sing as she played around the house.

However, there were many preparations to take care of, before her father came home. the house had to be decorated, and Emma had always enjoyed helping with this. She made elegant, colourful paper chains that she hung around the parlour and study.

Her mother and she carefully placed the candles on the Christmas tree, and arranged many brilliant red poinsettia plants around the house. they also used many of the beautiful plants in the garden to make wreaths to hand in the foyer.

Decorating was fun, but Emma was not looking forward to helping her mother prepare the cassava pie. Peeling, grating, washing, wrapping in muslin and then squeezing, squeezing, squeezing; it seemed to take forever just to prepare the cassava root.

Emma's job was to grate the cassava roots and many a time she would accidentally grate her finger. By the end of the afternoon she would often have several strips of cotton cloth tied around her fingers.

Thankfully though, Emma did not have to pluck the chicken to prepare the meat for the pie. She certainly didn't mind eating the cassava pie, but she just couldn't bring herself to pluck the chicken. It sure was a lot of hard work preparing the Christmas meal.

One preparation that Emma loved was going into Hamilton on the train to buy a special Christmas ornament at Triminghams for their tree. This had become a tradition in the Smith household, and Emma would begin thinking about her purchase almost as soon as summer ended.

One of the reasons she loved this outing, was because she and her mother would get dressed in their Sunday finest and take the train into Hamilton. Normally they would walk into town, but this was a very special occasion and so they got to take the train. The train had only been functioning for two years, but Emma loved the smell and sounds that it made. Even more special this year, was that Emma was able to ride in the first car just behind the engine.

The conductor even let her see the engineer stoking the coal fire that made the train run. It was hotter than the middle of August in the engine room. the conductor called out "Hamilton,'' as they approached the city.

Emma loved this time of year. All of the decorations were up, and there were people everywhere. As she entered Triminghams, Emma heard the delightful voices of the carollers. She was awe struck with the beauty of the Christmas tree, and the exquisite ornaments on it.

This year, she chose a delicate blue china bell, with a picture showing a mother, father and their young daughter.

The two weeks flew by with all the preparations, and Emma's father was scheduled to dock at Front Street the next day, which was Christmas Day.

Unfortunately, that evening, an unexpected hurricane struck the island. The wind and rain whipped the island, and the seas were the roughest anyone could remember. The next day, Emma saw enormous trees knocked over, and her neighbour's roof collapsed.

"Oh no!'' she thought. "It's Christmas morning and I don't have any of my new toys father was bringing me, to play with.'' She began to feel very sorry for herself, and pouted around the house. Then she walked into the parlour where she saw her mother crouching on the floor holding the lovely ornament that Emma had Brought. There were tear stains on her cheeks. Emma sat down next to her mother and started crying as well.

"Oh I hope father is safe and will be coming home soon with all of my presents,'' wept Emma.

Emma and her mother decided to save the cassava pie for when her father was home. Early the next morning after awakening, Emma went downstairs and sat in front of the Christmas tree. She stared intently at the ornament and it's picture of the family.

She knew that the ornament was trying to tell her something of importance.

Emma's mother crept down and sat beside her giving her a great big hug. She cooked her favourite pancakes for breakfast.

After breakfast, while Emma was taking one last look at the ornament, and trying to figure out what it meant. She heard the familiar squeak of the front door handle. To Emma's surprise her father came in and scooped Emma up into his arms and said, "Emma, I love you and have brought you back loads of presents.'' "Thank you father, but the presents aren't important to me any more. I now know what the ornament was trying to tell me. It was trying to tell me that Christmas isn't just about presents, it's about spending Christmas with the ones you love and for me that's my family.'' AP Photo A different kind of Mouse Inspirations, a real mouse inspired the name for the computer mouse, which in turn inspired this imari-style mouse desk ornament from Royal Crown Derby.