The holiday season is usually one of my favorite times of year – the cozy, the gratitude, the lights and colors, the giving. This year has been different. 2018 was a challenging year in general, so it didn’t really surprise me that I wouldn’t feel especially festive right now, but then just over this past weekend a beloved aunt passed away after a brief illness. My parents had to say goodbye to their beloved pet the week prior. Reality is not very festive right now, and neither am I.
I am very lucky to have some very good friends who have noticed and tried to help by offering me humorous/uplifting/reflective suggestions and links and things, in addition to a few really nice gatherings to celebrate the season. My friend Kimberly shared with me her love of Hallmark Christmas movies, which prior to this year, I’m not sure I knew existed. Really! Now, thanks to the inexplicable warm fuzziness that comes with chemistry-free romance, hot cocoa toasts, impulsive buying of a large small-town property, and a 100% chance of a happy ending every single time, I kind of like them. They serve their wholesome purpose, in the cheesiest possible way.
Another friend, Karen, sent me this absolutely stunning piece of choral music that stopped me in my tracks and brought me to tears, in the beautiful and haunting way that music can do that. (Even When He Is Silent). If you go to the video look at the lyrics and how they originated. If you weren’t crying before, you are now.
I appreciate the movies, poems, posts, and songs themselves very much, but I mostly truly appreciate the care that people have taken to share them with me and the fact that I have these people in my life. I hope that other people finding the holidays weird or lonely or sad have such people in their lives, too. So I am finally thinking about putting lights on the tree and getting the decorations out tonight, one week before Christmas. It’s not too late to find the joy in the season.
Speaking of joy, I did have a very good experience with the latest show at the Oak Park Art League. I put in my latest vessel series of 12″ x 12″ boards, and all of them sold by the closing of the holiday reception. Here they are with their “SOLD” dots underneath – certainly a moment to savor.
Happy Holidays to you and yours, and cheers to a happy and healthy start to 2019!
