How about A Story Before Bed?

There is an amazing website called A Story Before Bed where you can select a picture book, record yourself reading it and then email it to a child in your life. When the child presses "start", a video of you appears on the screen, "inside" the "book" and you read the book aloud to the child who is able to watch your facial expressions and enjoy the full experience. The child even gets to turn the pages. Miraculously, your voice is synched to the pages so if your child recipient tries to get cute and mess with the system, they can't! I don't know how the technology works but if the child jumps ahead three pages in the book, so do you, the reader. Think about it - grandparents can read bedtime stories to their children and soldiers can read books to their children while they're overseas. The site is fun, incredibly user-friendly and, really, brilliant. It doesn't take long but it enables people to create memories that will last forever. The child can play the book over and over and over again. The selection of books available is impressive and getting bigger all the time.

Just think - your niece and nephew in Canada can have a timeless video of you reading Can I Bring My Pterodactyl to School, Ms. Johnson? .

Try it - it's an inexpensive way to bond with the little ones in your life
(even those who sleep in the room right next to yours!)