christmas wishes...

i've been taking a little break so that i may make a little magic with my family.
but i've been thinking about you and i wanted to send a few wishes your way.

  i wish you bright happy days and dark sparkling nights.
i wish you happiness and peace within.
i wish you the love of family and friends.
and of course, i wish you a bit of magic too.

see you next year...

finding the magic within...

i left the kids home last night while i went to pick up my husband from work.  a short while later, i got a phone call from home.  my youngest.  in tears.  i actually wasn't too surprised.  it happens sometimes when you leave an 11 year old home with three teenagers.

  i asked him what was wrong and he proceeded to tell me between sobs.  "they said". sob.  "santa". sob.  "isn't real".  and my heart nearly broke in two.

i had to think fast.  he was genuinely upset and i needed to say the right words just then.  and this is what i said.  "just because your brother and sisters don't believe, that doesn't mean he is not real.  now that you're older, i think you can understand this.  santa may not be that guy they portray in all the stories.  no one really knows.  i believe santa  is a mystical being.  santa is a kind of magic.   santa is the kind of magic that comes from within yourself.  it comes from believing in good things.  if we didn't believe in good things, our lives would lack meaning and that would be so sad.  we all need magic in our lives and i'm sad your siblings have lost it.  but that doesn't mean that you can't still believe.  to them right now, christmas is just what kind of present they are getting.  but to those who believe, christmas is so much more". 

after i spoke with the teens, i realize that they didn't mean to to crush his spirit.  they were having a conversation and it just sort of came out that they no longer believed.  but i'm sad that they have lost the kind of innocence that makes them believe in magic.
thinking about it later, i wondered if maybe i had lost a bit of the magic myself.
lately, i've felt so weighed down by all of the preparation.  it's been a struggle to keep a positive point of view and to focus on the things that are truly important.  for me, there is the religious significance of christmas.  but i do enjoy some of the other aspects.  i like decorating and i like baking.  but my favorite part is the coming together of our family at christmas.  we live far from family and it is a gift to be able to travel and see everybody.

  i'm sure a lot of us have lost the magic at some point or another.  but it's never too late to get it back.  you just need to believe.  in something that is bigger than ourselves.  whatever that is for you.

i hope you find the magic this holiday season.

no. 488 and 489...and how the pizza guy inspired me to keep going...

i know...i haven't updated you on my crane folding status since May.  you probably thought that i had given up.  but, once i get an idea, i don't give it up too easily.  i was just taking a break.

my daughter requested these teeny, tiny earrings the other day.  to give to her friend as a birthday gift. so, being the mom that i am, even though i was getting ready for my show, i stopped and made them for her.  those tiny ones are hard to fold!   and then my other daughter spotted my bag of  "excess" cranes in the closet and she thought it would be pretty cool to have a "crane tree".  well, yeah.  so, even though we had already decorated our tree, we took everything off and turned it into a "crane tree", with book page cranes and crocheted snowflakes and sparkly silver stars and glittery pinecones.  and white lights.  lots of white lights.  my sons hate it, but us girls, we love it.  of course these were all previously folded cranes.  i still hadn't planned to start folding again.

and then we ordered pizza.  pizza guys usually just show up with your pizza, collect their tip and head out.  but as soon as this pizza guy stepped in my foyer his eyes lit up.  "whoa", he said, "did you make that?"  well, i've made pretty much everything in my house, so i had to turn around and see which thing he was talking about.  he was looking at my "crane hanger", which is actually just an embroidery hoop onto which i've strung a few hundred of my cranes.  all in neat rows, color coded.  because that's how i am.  "that is so beautiful", he said, "just so beautiful".  he went on and on about it for a few minutes.  i was a little stunned or i might of thought to give him some cranes.  next time.  of course, my daughter said that wasn't all he was looking at.  but really, i'm practically an old lady and he couldn't have been more than 25.  so yeah, i think he really did like the cranes.  anyway, that kind of sparked something in me and now i'm back to folding.  working towards my goal of 1000.  because it's nice to inspire people, pizza guys included.

and i know this isn't a great picture, but this "crane hanger" is big and hard to photograph.  so, just trust me, it's cool.  and beautiful.

so, my craft fair went well.  it was the best one i ever did (even though i've only done 5).  it was well organized, decorated nicely and it was busy.  there's nothing worse than not being busy, when you've spent weeks preparing.  so, i sold quite a few books, met some nice people and had a lot of fun.  it's given me a boost of confidence in the right direction.  and i'm really glad i did it, despite my anxiety.  and now i guess it's time to think about Christmas shopping and all that stuff.  i plan on doing some shopping on Etsy this year.  i think my family might be getting tired of my stuff, so it's time to support some other artists out there.  i hope to share some of my finds with you soon.  any ideas?