The Night Before Christmas

When I was a little girl, each Christmas Eve, my father would read us "The Night Before Christmas". The book he read was very old and leather bound, dated 1883. It was a real highlight for me and added to the butterflies I already had in my stomach.

I've scanned some of the images from that beautiful old book and will post here for your viewing pleasure. You may also down load these if you like. This illustration is by Alfred Fredericks, one of the founders of the American Watercolor Society in 1866.

The book is now falling apart, sad to say. I continued the tradition and read it to my children when they were growing up.

Christmas time

I love Christmas time. The older I get, the more I have learned to reduce the hectic and crazy business that for so many years kept me from really enjoying this time of year. I no longer 'have to get it all done'. My gift buying is now mostly done online, (I am not a shopper, going to a mall is not fun for me), I make many of my gifts, I play Christmas music, and I enjoy making Christmas dinner for my family. That's about it now- a quiet and peaceful Christmas with family visits.

Sometimes I make cookies with my granddaughter and that is always fun. Some years I make and send out Christmas cards and some years I dont. I no longer feel the quilt if I don't send them out- one of the better things about getting older is the lessening of the guilt...

This is a digital collage that I made tonight, thinking about the whole reason for the season...it is a compilation of several different famous paintings that I brought together with the magic of Photo Shop. I enjoy working with Photo Shop when it's not work related and there is no deadline! I hope you enjoy it.