Lately I’ve had presents on my mind, but not the receiving of them. Instead I’ve been pondering the heartfelt and personalized generosity that I was lucky enough to grow up with in my family each holiday. My mother was, and is, a gift giver of incredible skill to respect and admire, and she embodied the idea that making a gift for someone imbues it with a love that radiates from every inch of the item created.

It’s here! I put so much heart and work into each year’s holiday house tour, and this year’s tour is probably my favorite yet. Which is apt, because my decorations are my favorite yet as well!

Ahh, but sometimes the best plans go awry. About a month ago while I was perusing Pinterest for copyright free art to hang on my wall for the holiday, I stumbled across the (to the best of my knowledge, not copyright free) art of the artist Lennart Helje. I had seen a few pieces of his before, but I was freshly intrigued, and looked up his name on there specifically. I was in love with all of the pieces I saw.

More than once over the years, I’ve been asked by friends and acquaintances who notice my enthusiasm for the Christmas season why it means so much to me. Here are a few of my personal reasons why.

Wonderful news from out of my home town today. I received a letter from the woman in charge of the Be a Santa to a Senior program I posted about a couple of weeks ago. The program was getting ready to wind down this weekend, but her email informed me to let everyone know that they have now met their goal to bring the wished-for gifts to ALL the local seniors who had asked for support.