Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Home for the holidays

 I collect 'Christmas' all year long.
It's not unusual for me to find wonderful treasures "off season"
but, occasionally, I find one in the midst of all the Christmas 'hoopla'.

One such find this year 
was a hand carved Father Christmas with a wild goose.
There was just something about the look on his face
that I found very tender and dear.
 
 I looked forward to having him join my shelf of other carved Santas
for years to come.
 
I especially loved that it was signed by the artist.
As I usually do with a signed piece, 
I started checking 'on line' to see what I could find out about the artist.
 
Unfortunately what I found was an obituary.
 I was moved to see that the artist died on the day I found his Santa.
 It was then I knew that he was never meant to be 'mine'.
I was merely the conduit.
 
In the obituary, it noted how much he loved to spend time with his grandchildren.
Since that's MY favorite past time as well, I knew we were kindred spirits.
 
I've written to his family and asked which family member I should send the Santa to.
I have, no doubt, that Father Christmas and the Goose 
will be a treasured memento of a
beloved father, grandfather and/or great grandfather.
 
Father Christmas might have made it 3 hours south of where he was created,
but he was never meant to stay here.
 
Being 'home' for Christmas is what it's all about.
 

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