The hardest part of the holidays for me would be the shopping. I must be missing the female gene that runs rampant in most women. I don't care for shopping and don't like malls one bit! When I do shop, I prefer smaller stores, the local smaller groceries or health food stores, the smaller boutiques and the mom and pop operations. It does mean I pay a little bit more, but I feel quite good about what I'm getting for my money. You see, it's so much more than a product. It's the personal service, the support of local businesses which make this community what it is, and the belief in free enterprise. Sure, now and then I need the big box stores. But I need the touch stone of the heartland more.
And so... I struggle at Christmas. All year long I pick up things here and there when I see something for someone. More than likely, I will not have been able to wait until Christmas and will have given them the gift ahead of time! Some are silly personal things, things relating to a private joke and warm memoryies. I love giving presents and always feel a tinge of sadness when someone says "you shouldn't have"... but it doesn't stop me.
This Christmas, like last year, I'm making many of my gifts. I'd rather sit home a few hours and make something than face that traffic and long lines at the stores! Besides, it gives me enormous satisfaction.
Most of the females in my life will get jewelry. I have a bead obsession and have quite a collection, many of them vintage beads I've salvaged from old jewelry. I am always on the hunt for something spectacular and rare and unusual. My favorite finds to date are some carved coral beads with the most exquisite patina imaginable, and some crystal beads in unusual shapes and brilliance. I design jewelry around the beads, and seldom search for beads to make a particular design I have in mind.
People suggest I sell my jewelry all the time. I probably could sell it, if I had the time! These are my creations, really each one unique and special. If I made them for money would it change the results? I don't know.
Anyway... the necklace pictured here is one I made for myself. In the event anyone on my list should look at my blog, I don't want them to see their Christmas gift ahead of time! No peeking!
These beads are printed wood. And the focal bead is carved bone. Being a vegetarian I had to get past the "bone" idea... but it's so beautiful!
And so, I wore my jammies all day long and sat cross legged with my boxes of beads surrounding me as my creative juices flowed freely.
I listened to the new Neil Diamond album, since Rhapsody recommended it when I signed on today. Neil Diamond... he was popular when I was young, it had been years since I listened to his music. I was intriqued, what was he up to these days? I sat listening to his lyrics and noticed that he, like many song writers who have been writing songs a lifetime, has changed (and mellowed) over the years. His message these days is about love, enjoying life, and sticking by those you love.... and his faith in God.
Some might say artists like Neil Diamond have lost a creative edge. But see, I've grown up right alongside these artists (I'm thinking of Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Don Henley and others of my era) and I have changed right along with them. Life has lesons to teach us with each year that goes by, and it makes us oddly more humble of heart and prone to introspection... and ever so much more grateful. I'm ready to hear his messages, for the themes echo those of my own heart. And his melodies, as ever, are so pleasing to the ear, easy to be with., the kind that stay with you.
I have a memory of playing Neil Diamond's album, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, (one of the few that Steve didn't seem to mind) and twirling my girls, one at a time, in the living room as they giggled. The song was "Song Bird"....:::smile::::...
It's what I love about music.... the memories they stir....
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