Christmas Nuts

Hal thinks I'm insane, though he won't say it. He's probably right. Who am I to say?

But, the thing is, when I was little, and it was just my mother and me, Mom wanted to have a big fancy tree with lots of fancy store-bought glass ornaments on it for me. Only she couldn't really afford that, so instead she made ornaments, out of shiny, colored foil, and pipe cleaners, and paper. And when I got a bit older, we made them together. Foil lanterns, paper snow flakes, intricate foil garland, winter birds with fan-fold wings and tails, woven paper hearts, and all the other shiny tinsel bric-a-brac. And while I inherited my mother's love of fancy store-bought ornaments, what my earliest Christmases taught me is that Christmas is a thing you make. Really, this is true of all the holidays for me -- Easter is for painting eggs, Halloween is for carving pumpkins -- but it's most particularly true of Christmas.

It just isn't Christmas unless I make things. Many years I've had to settle for just cutting some new paper snow flakes, and maybe baking a batch of cookies if the stars are right. But in a year when we don't have to travel, we're not really doing any shopping, and we are not throwing a party, the least I can do for Christmas is Make Stuff.

So. This year I'm making cards. I had it in my head that I might rubber stamp them, but I can't find any of my rubber stamping gear. Most especially, I can't find the inks or ink pads, which also puts paid to block printed cards, unless I buy more ink. So instead I sat down last night with a single permanent ink Micron pen and a few colored felt tips and set about making cards. Hand drawn cards. Individually hand drawn. In ink. Straight onto the card stock. No sketches, no pencil cartoons to follow, just pure brain-to-hand-to paper. I am definitely kicking it old school now. And Hal was right. I am clearly insane.

Actually, so far they're coming out well. Not fast, mind you, but well. Good thing I have plenty of time...