Art and Christmas memories

 I just wanted to show off some of Nathan's work in his ceramic class. This is my vase he made me. It was the first thing I requested him to make when he asked. I think it's the perfect size for our little table.

 So this one is my favorite, the colors are beautiful but they're kinda bleached out in this picture. It was made using a different type of method in order to get the cool crackle effect. The only down side is that it doesn't get sealed when this method is used so you can't put any liquid in it, just dry stuff, which is just fine since it is a cookie jar after all.

 This is his first pitcher that he made. Nathan has been trying a lot of different colors with glaze and I think they're such eye candy. I love colorful ceramic ware. It seems like so many times, people chose some dull, sandy color. I don't know why, maybe they want to make sure everything will always match but as for me, bring on the color!

I had to throw these little puppies in. These are the German stars that my mother taught me to make growing up. They're the perfect, poor mans decoration because all they take is craft paper and hot glue, which are two things I have a supply of, and they look cute and classy. Every year I make them around Christmas time without actually planning to. This year, as I was rummaging through my craft box for something, I saw the craft paper. Seeing craft paper doesn't usually remind me of German stars but since the Christmas season was upon us, I instantly thought of German stars and my mom and just then I ached to make them. I wanted to get my hot glue gun out right then and start folding and cutting but I couldn't with the boys around so I resolved to do it soon when the kids were in bed. I realized that they just weren't a cute Christmas decoration to me, they were a memory of my mom and the very act of folding and cutting and gluing brought me back to the Christmases spent at the table by my mom helping her make all those stars. Thinking about my mom brings lots and lots of memories but I think one particular memory sums up my mom nicely in my mind. I was just a little girl living in our old mobile home with the huge yard. It was my brother Ben's birthday and my mom had set up a slip n' slide for him and his friends for his party. I think the party was pretty much done because I remember the slip n' slide was abandoned and I was taking advantage of it. It was all mine! I don't know where everybody was, where Ben and his friends were or Julie or Eric or Dad or Mom. All I know was that I was alone in the back yard enjoying the company of a large piece of plastic and a sprinkler on a sunny, hot day. As I ran to get sufficient momentum so I could slide smoothly down the whole length of plastic on my knees this time, I landed funny on my ankle and a shot of pain jolted my body. It was so sudden that it took the breath out of me and I couldn't scream out in pain. At that moment, I felt helpless. I felt like I couldn't scream out because the pain was so intense and I felt like I couldn't walk for the same reason. I also felt very alone because for some reason I was so sure that nobody was around. I didn't know what to do in my little kid mind. As I was despairing and in pain, something I didn't expect came into view out of the corner of my eye. It was my mom. She came so quickly that it confused me. I thought I had been alone. How did she know I was in pain and needed her right then? She quickly picked me up and helped me limp to the house where my memory of that event ends. I vaguely remember crutches but the strongest memory is by far the surprised and relieved feeling I had when my mom rushed out to help me. It turned out that she had been watching me the whole time from her bedroom window as she was folding some laundry. Since then, I've thought about that memory from time to time and it's probably my favorite one of my mom now. It kinda sums her up nicely because whether I've been critical or demanding, snobby or bratty, needy, ungrateful, unreasonable or what ever she surprises me and still rushes out to help me. She watches out for me. So here's to my sweet mom and all the many stars we've made together over the Christmases.