​Dear Atria,

I am very happy to be given an opportunity to send you a Christmas gift this year. Please thank your mother for providing your new postal address.
​
I sent you a package yesterday and I noticed that the delivery was attempted this morning, but surely you must have been at school and no one was home to receive it. The collection note has been left by the postman, so you can get the package now from your local collection office. I hope you will enjoy it :-)

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year 2018!

Dear Atria, the Christmas package I sent you in mid-December came back couple of days ago. To my surprise it apparently hasn't been collected. I thought that maybe you were away for Christmas holidays and therefore was not able to collect it? Anyway, I will keep it for you and I will send it to you again whenever you want. Please contact me via this website, email or phone whenever you want me to post it again.

​Dear Atria,
 
Your Christmas present this year is a limited edition ice-watch. I got it for you with the hope that every time you look at it, it will remind you to value your time and to cherish your memories.
 
Time we value at present forms our future happy memories, whilst the time we took for granted and did not value contributes towards our future regrets.
 
Look forward to a better new year; believe in yourself and your abilities. Whatever you want to do, do it today; don’t wait till tomorrow. There is a saying that ‘There is always tomorrow’, but there are times when tomorrow may be too late…
 
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2016.
 
Your Dad,
Farshid

This is the card with a big hug from me to you. I don't know if you can read the message from the picture, so here it is what it says:

Dear Atria,

Lots of hugs and my loving thoughts for you on your birthday.
I always wanted for your all the happiness, health and success there is in the world. Now you are well on your way to become an adult, certainly mature enough to listen to someone’s opinions and advice, and decide for yourself which part of what you hear is a sound and good advice that may change your life for better, or how someone else’s story of success may suggest to you a different approach towards life and its challenges or how it may shed a light on a different path in life, or all of the above and more, whatever the case may be.
This year I decided to get you couple of books about happiness and law of attraction. They both give a comprehensive advice on how to be happy, how to love life, laugh more, live longer and achieve everything we want in life. One of them is an audiobook as I thought you may like to listen to it on your blue iPod while you are walking.
Your grandfather (Pedar Jan) is with me and he wishes you a very happy and glorious birthday.

Happy birthday my Princess
Your Dad Farshid

Dear Atria,
Happy Birthday!

When we are a boy or a girl, on our birthday we are simply one year older. 
However, when we get to an age that we grow to a Lady or a Gentleman, on our birthday we also get one year wiser. 
My dear daughter, today you got one year wiser.

Look back at your Life since your last birthday and recall all your memories. Let the good and pleasant memories inspire and motivate you in the year ahead, but don't let the less cheerful or less pleasant  memories to discourage or dissuade you in life. Just remember them and learn from them, specially memories of any actions you regret.

Remember, Failures and Mistakes are Actions or Answers which you identified as undesirable or wrong, but yet failed to learn from them.

If you do learn from your mistakes, although still wrong or undesirable actionsy, they will become Experiences in life which eventually will be leading you to glory and success.

Wishing you a very happy birthday.

Your dad
Farshid Shenassa
25/06/2014

Dear Atria
Happy New Year, Norooz Mobarak!
This year the Iranian new year "Norooz" was on 20th March, today, at 16:57:07 GMT. We are a few hours into iranian year 1393.
The Iranian new year is celebrated by all Persians around the world at exactly the same time. A complete solar calendar year is 365 days and almost 6 hours, so depending on where you live, because of the time difference, the new year will happen at different time of the day.
I look forward to the Norooz when I be allowed to greet you and give you  presents in person. This year I hope to pass them on to you through your Mum in May when I expect to see her. Here is what I got you.

Your father Farshid

I got you this girly, butterfly handbag as I thought it is very cute and just perfect for Norooz, which is also the beginning of Spring.

This is a collection of quotations from Paulo's Coelho's books, full of wisdom, courage and inspirations. I hope you will enjoy them.

Dear Atria,
Although we are not Christians and we do not celebrate Christmas the same way as they do, we all enjoy the spirit of Christmas. It is a spirit of giving, sharing, forgiveness, family reunion, caring for others, a spirit of being thankful for what we have and above all a spirit of being kind and helping those who are less fortunate than we are.
Christmas, as you no doubt know, is to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Although it is not clear in history or from the bible when Jesus was born, legend has it that Christian church adopted to celebrate Christmas at the end of winter as they wanted it to replace the already popular winter festival which dated back to roman times.
I thought you might enjoy having your very own miniature Christmas in a box. I have chosen the following few items for you to symbolise Christmas, I will pack them and give it to your Mum to bring for you. 

Although unclear when it became a tradition to decorate a tree for Christmas, that too dates back to the winter festival. In roman times traditionally an evergreen fir tree was decorated outside the houses and branches of it was used to decorate homes during the winter festival.
Some believe use of evergreen plants or trees was to symbolise the everlasting life with god. History has it that Romans were  using branches of Fir Tree to decorate their temples during their Saturnalia festival.
As to taking the tree indoor and decorating it, again it is unclear when exactly it was adopted as a Christmas tradition and why. There are many different legends about when an why a tree was first brought to the house as well as why and how it was decorated. 

The first Christmas Trees were decorated with edible things, such as gingerbread, gold covered apples, sweets & wafers. Later glass makers made special small ornaments similar to some of the decorations used today to decorate the trees and children started using colour paper, gold foil, tinsels, candles, etc to decorate their tree. It is believed that originally people used to put a figure of the Baby Jesus on the top of their tree. This in time has changed to an angel, a fairy or a star. Today that simple Christmas decoration has grown to a commercially profitable business that is hard to miss in any town.

Christmas crackers are favourite in the UK. They were first made in about 1850 by a London sweet maker called Tom Smith. He one night, while he was sitting in front of his log fire, became very interested by the sparks and cracks coming from the fire. Suddenly, he thought what a fun idea it would be, if his sweets and toys could be opened with a crack when their fancy wrappers were pulled in half. I hope you will enjoy opening miniature crackers I am sending you.

The use of candle for decoration also dates back to the ancient winter celebrations. No one knows when candles first became connected with Christmas, but let's not forget that candles were the main source of light after dark and their use in any winter festival (short days) was hardly surprising. 
Originally candles were used to decorate Christmas Trees but as they were responsible for starting many fires now days they are replaced by the safer electric lights.
It is nice to lit a scented candle in a cold winter evening. It provides a gentle, soft light and gives a feeling of warmth.

I included a small box of sweets in your package as usually during Christmas people treat themselves to some chocolate. Olden days an ordinary familie couldn't afford to have good food, including chocolate, on a daily basis and Christmas was one of the rare and special occasions when parents were treating their children to the chocolate. It was very special and children were looking forward to it the whole year. Nowadays it doesn't have the same meaning as we can afford chocolate during the year, but Christmas is a good excuse to have something sweet.

I hope you like my Christmas card this year. I thought the Fairy is a nice idea as you can use it as a decoration on your tree. 
The custom of sending Christmas cards was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He was a civil servant (Government worker) who was very interested in the new 'Public Post Office' and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people.Sir Henry had the idea of Christmas Cards with his friend John Horsley, who was an artist. They designed the first card and sold them for 1 shilling each. (That is only 5p or 8 cents today(!), but in those days it was worth much much more.) The card had three panels. The outer two panels showed people caring for the poor and in the centre panel was a family having a large Christmas dinner! Some people didn't like the card because it showed a child being given a glass of wine!

They say that the picture is worth 1000 words - I bought you this notebook, so you can record your memories by drawing simple pictures.

As winters in UK are recently quite cold  this little set will keep you warm. I hope you like the colour and design...

Dear Atria,
Another year is ending and for many of us it is time to reflect on the past year and set up goals for the new one. 
Be always proud of your achievements and appreciate your efforts even if they didn’t lead to your desirable results - a failure from which you learn is an experience. The most important thing is to never give up and try until you succeed, never  give up and stand up after a fall.
I wish you all the happiness in the world, lots of strength and determination allowing you to follow your dreams. I wish kind and friendly people to be around you to love and support you.
P.S. The other elements of success are patience and believe. I am patiently waiting to be part of your life again.
Your Father Farshid

I sent you the above message also on the two cards I posted one to the contact address in Canada provided by your Mum to allow me to send you cards few times a year. I posted the other card to your Mum’s friend in Oxford, who have been kindly passing on to you my cards and presents in the past. 

You can see both cards in the pictures here. One of them (the beautiful handmade card posted directly to you to Canada) carries the additional message, which I really like and which made me to choose this particular card for you. I hope you will like it...

"Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. Like a hummingbird, we aspire to hover and savour each moment as it passes, embrace all that life has to offer and to celebrate joy of everyday. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation".