Happy Holidays

Holiday cards part one December 2020

This past week in the studio has been about my yearly attempt to make holiday cards. I have been making cards almost every year around the holidays since I was a kid. Literally. I’m not religious and I don’t really get caught up in the Christmas consumer craziness, especially since my kids have been gone. I do, however, get a giddy delight when I hear certain holiday jingles and a special awe when I see tasteful decorations with twinkly lights. Perhaps it’s the remembering of getting swept away in the magic. I always used to tell my kids that. Christmas is about magic. When I think of it that way, I can let go of the stress a little because who doesn’t want some magic in their lives. It comes without expectations. It is whatever you want it to be. 

But once again, I spent an irrational amount of time producing holiday cards to give away. The endeavour is not just about the hours of labor to produce these things, it is the mental effort wondering if it is even a decent piece of art. Why do I care? They are cards. It is a production. Not a one-of-a-kind, soul-searching art work to add to my life’s collection gathering in storage. Haha. I continue though, to find it an important fragment of my years end. It also gives me a chance to reach out to some people that I don’t make the time to do any other time of the year. 

All of that said, as this week wraps up the year of 2020 (thank goodness), I will be hunkering down and making some personal goals for 2021. One of those will certainly be to reach out to some of those on my Holiday card list more than once a year! If there is one thing 2020 has pounded into my psyche is that community is important even as we orbit around in our solitude. Some people need a nice thick tightly-knit web of people in their lives with all the security that provides and some need just a spiders web with big gaps that present opportunities for free fall. I am definitely of the latter type. But without each and every one of you, I would not be able to catch the flies and maintain my sustenance. 

Thank you for being out there. Thank you for making up my web. And most importantly, even if you don’t get a card in the mail from me, let’s stay connected.