Encompassing Holidays

Laurie Mika, Tree of Life. www.mikaarts.com

When do the holidays kick in for you? For me and my Southern California family, it started yesterday and, because we give a nod and due respect to several different holidays and beliefs, we’ll have important days and gatherings for the next week and a half. And I think all of them, religious and not, are beautiful and moving. Some here are simply using the time off to be with family and friends, others to rejoice in their passion for Christ, still others celebrate the Jewish liberation from oppression, and others still drum up the sun on the shortest day of the year for the winter solstice or Yule. And they all fall within the same week this year!

Not everybody feels the need to be strictly spiritual but its week’s like this that make me appreciate the variety and possibilities. The range of spiritual beliefs and how we celebrate them feels very much like art. Particular religions, personal levels of spirituality, or faith only in science gives us all so many canvases upon which to create ourselves, enabling beliefs and expressions of those philosophies in very individual ways.

I’m particularly happy about the holidays that come with so many of these beliefs as they give us a chance to assess what is important in our lives, to stop the merry-go-round that we’re on for a moment and really look at ourselves, what we’re doing, and who we are surrounded by. A lot of this gets lost in the craziness of this season’s shopping, parties, and travel, but I hope you all have time to look to what’s most important – the people you share your life with.

You, my readers, are part of that for me, out there as a large, extended creative family that listens to my babbling and writes, more often than expected, to relate and relay your own stories, to cheer me on, and to simply be a friend.

I just want to take a moment to say thank you and to let you know how much I appreciate and adore you for your creativity and passion, and especially for letting me express mine through things like this blog.

It’s hard to find art work that encompasses all we might be celebrating this week but, I think, to open this post, a Tree of Life comes pretty close and who doesn’t love to just get lost in the details of a Laurie Mika mosaic?

Speaking of mosaics, I took a day at the end of the week to finally grout the kitchen backsplash. There will be too many gatherings at the house to leave that undone! I still need to get back to the polymer pieces that will go on the magnets in the glass mosaic but we have an otherwise finished wall,  finally! Here is quick pick of it.

And with that I am off to enjoy the Yuletide today with some sugar free wassail (basically just ginger tea for me … *sigh*) and the first night of Hanukkah. All this is to commence with a house full of college kids (girls and boys) who will be doing something a bit different … knitting and drinking tea. Yep. Their idea, not ours. Nothing welcomes winter like freshly knitted scarves and hot tea apparently. I think its wonderful!

Here’s to all your wonderful and wacky traditions! All the best this holiday week to you and yours!