The Gift

This Saturday and Sunday was the monthly “Sketch With Me” virtual sketch event, and as has been true of the last two events, it fell at a time when we were unusually busy or preoccupied. Saturday was a day full of cleaning, laundry (it seems to multiply when we’re at College Station so much), making 2 batches of fudge and one batch of cookies, and a visit from friends who wanted to show us their new puppy, Belle. Not much time to sketch.

Then today, we took a trip to Needville where our granddaughter Jayna was performing in a Christmas band concert. Hard to draw accurately on the rough Texas farm roads.

The “theme” this month is “The Gift” . . . . When I was finally able to do a bit of sketching, my subject seemed rather obvious. The very best gift of all. Or at least a representation of that Gift.

The rusty metal is a nativity we just bought, in keeping with our recent “rustic country” decor. It sits on a ledge dividing the kitchen from the living room, fitting right in with the galvanized milk strainer and chicken feeder light fixtures Bill has made for the kitchen. The tiny olive wood piece is a tree ornament. We never got around to putting a tree up this year but the ornament is on the shelf.

On the second page are a couple of lawn displays we saw today in Somerville, Texas, and a Christmas card designed by a young patient at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. They have pediatric patients create paintings to be turned into cards and calendars every year as a fund raiser for the pediatric patient programs.