It's Christmas Day 2017 and as I write this, it's snowing a pretty good clip as they say here in Maine. My husband Dave and I celebrated and exchanged gifts with each other, our daughters, as well as our grandchildren at three separate times. My youngest daughter's two boys are spending the holiday as well their week's vacation this year up with their father. As a result, we visited with them earlier than expected last Thursday afternoon and evening due to an incoming winter storm that arrived the next afternoon and lasted into Saturday afternoon. We all had a grand time eating home-cooked food, engaging in play as well as heartfelt laughter.
By Saturday morning, the snow had changed to rain as the temperature rose to 45 degrees - and promptly washed away all the snow we received the night before. This was good news for our oldest daughter as she had to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping. We watched our two oldest grand-kids for over four hours so she could get everything done, home and hidden. We decided to give our presents to those two while they were here with us. It also gave my granddaughter and I time to get creative as one of her gifts was, as she put it, a "whoppin' art can". It was good to create designs and art projects from the heart and the imagination. My grandson and my husband are "pretty tight" as my grandson puts it. While the women created, the guys went into our den and Dave pulled out his toy car collection. He'll be 55 in 2018, and he still collects these little cars. He's done so for the past 51 years. He's passed a good number along to all his grandsons as well as our daughters. It's part of who he is and I think it's one thing that helps him stay young at heart.
The festivities kept rolling along on Sunday as Dave and I went to our oldest daughter's house for a Christmas Eve gathering and meal - because yet another snow storm was coming tomorrow. The adults exchanged gifts and the grand-kids laughed as Dave had to plow through God-knows how many layers of duct tape. Sometimes I think I have a really weird family, but it's our creativeness and uniqueness shining through. My daughter gave me a framed enlargement of one of her photographs of a Maine harbor in the fall. The photograph was absolutely stunning!
The best gifts and times are from the heart. Give me a piece of yourself - your imagination, your creativity, of what's truly positive inside you. You can't buy that at a store or on-line. Stepping back a bit in time, I received my first Christmas card this season on Black Friday. Ironically enough, one of my neighbors gave us a picture of herself and her cat. What could be more reflective of the giver? Over the past few weeks, we've received dozens of cards. Some were comical, others more serious and spiritual, one was of a Christmas tree full of photos of the staff of one of my doctors staff down in Portland. That one made me laugh because it was personable and unexpected.
Here's my heart-felt gift to you. Most who know me, know that I'm a flower person. I've always liked poinsettias and I was moved to create a doodle and paint one that was inspired by a card I received last week. Enjoy!
Until next time, enjoy all the holidays!
Jill
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