A Christmas Story...of a sort

 

I am one of those people for whom Christmas wears a veil of sadness; while there are bright lights and music and excited plans everywhere (though God knows not so much this strange, sad year), I celebrate the Solstice with as much peace and beauty and sacredness as I am able.  

The Light returns...and December 26th always comes.

Modern Christmas music...meaning, in most cases, anything after 1900...makes me cry.  Like all of us for whom Christmas is more a time of sadness than excitement, I have my reasons.  I try not to inflict them on others.  I regret that my beloved Joseph has to live with it, with me and my need to hibernate, and bless the man for doing all he can to make it easier for me.

 

I miss the celebrations we used to have at Fort Osage National Historic Site, sharing simple, handmade gifts, decorating with pineapples, a traditional symbol of hospitality, live evergreens and candles and no glitz.  We sang 18th C. (and earlier) songs. We made our feast of foods that might have been available 250 years ago, and it was beautiful.  And it didn't trigger my memories.

But I promised a slightly more current Christmas story, didn't I?

Many years ago, when my first husband, Harris, and I lived in a small bungalow in the city, he gave me the perfect present.  Other years, Christmas had been a bit crazy, splitting our time between his mother in southern Kansas, and my dad and his new family in Independence.  Christmas Eve one place, Christmas Day in the other, no matter what the weather.  We were torn, as most families in that situation can be, and exhausted by the demands and expectations.  

Bless Harris, he didn't drive, and for some reason he always wanted to do his shopping on Christmas Eve...so that meant me sitting in the car somewhere for hours while he braved the crowds, looking for the Perfect Gift.  

One year I'd said I really needed a muffler...I meant a long, warm scarf, but he remembered images of women with hands tucked inside a fur muff, and he wouldn't be satisfied until he had searched every store in downtown KC.  (Needless to say, fruitlessly!  Muffs went out 100 years ago or so...)

But this year, his mother was gone and seeing my dad was less fraught.  We'd bought a pretty little bungalow in the Brookside area, and had room for a tree--he'd had a lousy childhood and I always tried hard to give him the best Christmas possible, with home made cookies, fruitcake, decorations, and all the traditional trappings.  He hadn't mentioned braving the crowds on Christmas Eve, and I was very grateful--that would have been gift enough!

An old friend who knew what he'd gotten for me that year took me aside and said "get your face ready for Christmas morning...you're going to be really disappointed."  And I wondered what on earth...?

But Christmas morning came, and he shyly handed me a heavy box, messily wrapped...and when I tore it open there was no need at all to "ready my face."  

He had bought me an electric typewriter, a beauty of a machine.  He knew I wanted to be a writer, after years of workig for others in stressful jobs--and he helped make that dream possible.

He knew me.  And he gave me love and hope and the future I grew into.

 

Remembering this story always makes me smile, when I think of all the jokes about husbands buying their wives a new frying pan or blender or whatever, instead of the lingerie or perfume or God knows what they "should" be buying.  And how angry the wives are fully expected to be.

Ladies, I wish you all an electric typewriter, and love.

Website Redesign--a Work in Progress...

 

I'm redesigning the banners for the class pages, as well as redoing my whole website (erk!)--and I'm trying to use art that was actually IN the class (though I think the backlit self-portrait may have snuck in there--not sure!)

I work in ink and wash a lot and really love it--I've got some pieces that were done long after the class was finished, but I think to be fair I probably ought to stick with mostly what was in the class itself, what do you think? I want to give people an idea of what they're going to learn, and although the technique is the same, the art is different. 

 

This one, for instance, is not in the class, but I loved how it turned out...

 

I've redone the banners for all six existing classes, and the banner for the main page, with no end of simplifying and rewriting and overall housecleaning of the whole site.  My wonderful webmistress Sonya Morgan at Morgansites.com is endlessly patient and creative!

Deleting CDs from the catalog since we can no longer make them ourselves and Cafe Press quit years ago...the ones I have remaining are in my Etsy shop, Cathy Johnson Art,* and when they're gone, they're gone.  We're changing over to downloadable as we have time--and of course some already are!

*Remember there is still a lot of original art there, as well as prints.  I've bogged down listing new things, but I WILL get badk to it.  Please take a peek...

Meanwhile of course, the classes are all still available on my original website! The upgrade is a long way from finished...it will be much cleaner, simpler, and more navigable.

...and of course as always, your opinions are more than welcome.

Working on that website...

How odd, when you look at your old website through new eyes.  It came from a time when my freelance work was my ONLY income, and almost everything I did had to be a way to earn my keep.  Some worked reasonably well, some did not and fell by the wayside (I don't make 18th C. style jewelry any more!)

So as the years passed I added more and more--new books, classes, images, blogs, galleries, links...and it became a huge, confusing mess that had very little to do with where I am now--or who I am now.

The new version will be vastly simpler, and a great deal will just go away.  It no longer applies.  I'll maintain the catalog (which will also be simpler since we don't do CDs any more) and the classes, at least the self-directed ones for the present, but the rest will be cleaner, more focused, and a good deal more personal and less business-oriented.  I'm a good deal older now, and I have less energy to waste.

There will be a focus on whimsy, fantasy, spirituality, creativity, nature...and gratitude.

For I am more than grateful I can turn my focus in those directions...

Shedding those old skins takes time and effort...I hope it will be worth it.  I plan to have fun, while I'm at it.