November 2008

Two Festivals

acornleaf

TWO FESTIVALS

by

Lucy Larcom

Thanksgiving stirs her ruddy fire;
The glow illuminates November:
She sees new glimmerings of desire
Flash up from every fading ember.
The corn is stored, and heaped the board;
The matron Day, her comforts summing,
Hears, through her best, a better word,-
The merry shout of “Christmas coming!”The fires of two home-festivals
Light up the frosty air together:
Thanksgiving unto Christmas calls,
“Shake hands across this keen, cold
weather!”
We both are here to bring good cheer;
Each has a heart-glow for the other;
The chill of our New England year
Welcomes your warmth, my Old-World
brother.

“My Pilgrims thought your wassail rude,
Your Yule-flames a barbaric splendor;
Your gay old English game eschewed,
Their graver gratitude to render
For hardship past, for peace at last.
Now, with a larger comprehending,
We catch your cheerful meaning vast,
That gives the year a blessed ending.”

So Christmas and Thanksgiving clasp
Their hands and brightly bridge December.
Close met within that heart-felt grasp,
All friends One Friend of all remember.
Two feast-fires glow across the snow:
Dead voices answer to the living,
As home to meet our own we go;
‘Praise God for Christmas and
Thanksgiving!”

This poem has been on my mind for days as I feel the first whispers of Christmas approaching and Autumn taking its leave as the cold winds strip the trees of their leaves. I don’t usually feel Christmas this early, or usually even want to….but how can I help but welcome it as I find it in the quiet comfort I felt a few nights ago as I gave the goats their hay in the frigid darkness….or the happy ease that comes to mind when I think of the simple gift-giving we are planning (just books and stockings!)….or the warmth I have felt at recent shows as you have exchanged greetings and wishes with me.

But I really am just dropping a little hello here tonight. Taking a short breath before I continue filling orders and preparing for my last show. What a whirl it has been lately!

Days in my booth…

Hours in my studio making brown paper packages….
and moments as I find them to appreciate the last fingertip touches of Autumn as it goes….

PS For those who celebrate Advent, I wanted to share that I was able to find quite a few old-fashioned Advent calendars on ebay today. Ours will be on its way to us tomorrow!

Newness…

…is in the air. Can you feel it?

And there is an answering freshness in my studio and spreading its way to my website. A Calendar of One’s Own for 2009 is finished and residing here. It was a joy to create, and it’s subject is near and dear to many of our hearts…

…yes, our books! I came across so many meaningful quotes, like this one…

 

attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.
~ Virginia Woolf ~

Isn’t that wonderful? And what I have always felt. The illustration came from a lovely old children’s music book, and it was very satisfying to place books in the hands of the fairies (why weren’t they there all along, one could ask?).

I have added several new greeting cards to the “A Letter is a Joy of Earth” section of The Shop and have this new Christmas card in the Holiday section…

janechristmas
I have wanted to design a Jane Austen Christmas card for a few years now, and everything came together for it a few weeks ago. And I have two other new Christmas card designs that I will put up on the website in the days to come.

It is such a busy time for me, with four shows finished and two more lovely ones to look forward to. As soon as I get home from one show, I get in my studio to make more papery creations for the next one. But we have snatched, cosy family times in between and the Autumn color and warmth outside are seeping into my spirit. I am so grateful for all the orders I have been receiving lately, and am filling them in the order I receive them as I am able between shows. It is wonderful to be buoyed along by the hope all around.

I will leave you with a photo of yet another long-desired creation that has recently come to fruition. I will have it on the website just as soon as I get more photos taken. What could it be?