[Lydia] Maria [Child] ALS to [Anna Loring], December 20, 1840

Northampton Dec. 20th 1840

Dearest Nony,

Having a good chance to send to
Boston, I write a little before the time, to wish
you a merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
I send you a little seal to put in your desk;
just to show that Aunt Maria thinks of you,
as ever, 'with much love'. It destroys all the senti-
-ment of New Year's presents, when people think
they must make expensive ones. The sign that
we are remembered by friends is the real charm.
I will tell you what I want you to buy for me,
this New Year. Six cents worth of the seed of the
Hyacinth Bean; an ornamental vine for gardens,
that bears a lilac-colored blossom, and a shining
reddish-purple pod. The seed are small beans,
brownish purple, with a little white ridge on one
side, like a ruffle, or collar, on a dark dress.
When they come up, I will call it Nony's vine;
and the blossoms will make me think of the little