When David would complain about the huge holiday (Christmas) merchandise displays at the local craft/hobby store, in July, I went to bat for them.
“If someone’s going to create their own holiday decorations and/or gifts, they can’t wait until November to start working on them. Needlepoint stockings take a while to complete. Hand-crafted angel ornaments are not a week-before-tree-decorating-time project.”
One of the *several* aisles of Christmas stuff.
I still feel that way, but what I’m seeing now are full-blown trees, swags, boxed ornaments, lights, tree-top stars (all ready to plug in), ready-made wrapping paper and reels of ribbons, along with co-ordinated bows and to/from labels.
I don’t know that I saw any holiday kits or areas that had supplies for creating special Christmas stuff. Of course, there’s always supplies for drawing and painting and tee-shirts to decorate and yarn and fabric. So, of course, people who want to create special, one-of-a-kind gifts can find what they need. And then they can wrap the gift in matching paper, ribbon, and bow. It might look prettier in the box than it does after the box is opened.
But, you know, “crafted with love for . . . ”
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- I certainly understand that, if you have brought in all that Christmas stuff, and there is more coming, you are going to have to start moving all that Thanksgiving stuff!
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- And, so the shoppers do not get confused, you had better identify all that Christmas stuff with a sign that says, “Christmas.” You know, just in case they have lost track of things, it being July right now.
A few years ago, I needed a picture frame for a gift I was making for David’s mom. I went to the craft/hobby store and was delighted to find that all the frames were 50% off. Yay, yay, hooray! I found the perfect thing to take to her for Mother’s Day.
Then, I began to notice, when I would go there, that the frames were always 50% off. ALWAYS.
Hmmmmm. That made me feel rather fooled. And used. If the frames are always 50% off, does that maybe mean that they’d been priced at twice the price they should be? I guess I could go to Wal-Mart and Target and Michael’s and other places to compare the prices of frames at those places, also keeping in mind the quality and diversity of all those other frames. I’m not going to, but someone might should go. Why don’t you go and compare prices and tell me about it.
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- The frame situation.
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- These church window-type things are cute and attractive. They are not on sale. At any percent. I wonder if I talk to the manager and explain that I would like to put pictures in the spaces, would I get 50 percent off, like all the other picture frames.
I should have gotten closer to this sign on the door to take the picture. A little hard to read, it says, “Furniture, always 30% off Market Price.”
Really. Always? Maybe the store chain always does so very well, financially, that they actually can always take 30, or 40, or 50 % off their items. Or maybe the manufacturer inflates the market price so that stores that purchase their stock can say always 30, or, 40, or 50% cheaper that the market price.
Anyway, I purchased the colored DuckTape in colors I didn’t already have, and I bought extra paintbrushes so kid can make Painted Toast for Fun with Friends snack. It’s art this year, and this session is “Painting and Printing.”
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was barren, with no form of life;
it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness.
But the Spirit of God was moving over the water.
God said, “I command light to shine!” And light started shining.
God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness.
Genesis 1:1-4 (Contemporary English Version)
When it’s Science Fun with Friends, I start every day saying, “God made a wonderful world for us, and science is how we learn to understand that world.”
When It’s Art Fun with Friends, I start every session by reading Genesis 1:1. And I say, “God created our world. God creates. And you can create. You create different kinds of things, but you have good ideas and you can plan and work. You are creative, too.”
And speaking of God’s wonderful world, here’s what I saw a couple of days ago, while I was sitting on the porch, reading. A very active butterfly, it flitted all around the yellow flowers. I’m happy to have created such a pleasant, attractive space for it.
And, I keep forgetting to give the kitten report. A couple of days after I had first seen it (and hadn’t seen it since), I went next door to say goodbye to neighbors who were moving out of state. While I was talking to the mom, I was watching her toddler daughter, who was enjoying a chocolate doughnut. Then, all of a sudden, I saw a kitten scamper past, into the flowers.
I turned to my neighbor. “You took the kitten!” Yes, she said, and they had felt the same things I had, that I couldn’t touch it, I would have to take it to a shelter. But then, she said, she thought that a new, tiny pet might be the thing that would help the daughter and 5-year-old son adjust to the big change in their lives. So they had taken the kitten to the vet, had shots and medications to get her all well. And, she now had a bow around her neck, and was jumping and playing and trying to get a bite of that delicious doughnut. Turned out well.