Christmas Trade 2024

[PaintBoss]

That’s OK. I have watched in amazement that some places in the US get mail very quickly and some take forever. And it isn’t always that the farthest place is the slowest!
Now I know it’s probably weird for people who haven’t had their Thanksgiving yet to be thinking Ho, ho, ho, but once people receive their card and let the sender know, the creator can get it posted. And people can discuss it and comment on it. Always fun! It’s going get quite a bit busier come December. So it isn’t a bad thing to be discussing it later in November.

 

[Ellen Easton]

I'm starting mine tomorrow. Actually, today really, since I'm such a night owl and it's after midnight now.

 

[Sanlynn]

I received my first Christmas card today from Kay!
I’ll be sending mine off soon.

 

[PaintBoss]

I received mine from Kay as well today. I have let her know so that she can post it here. Looking forward to seeing them.

 

[PaintBoss]

My cards got sent today. Hopefully they will get out of the country or to the Canadian address in time. Our Postal Service is in a strike position come Friday if they decide to go on strike. This could really delay cards. If you’re sitting on them, I would get them sent right away. Hopefully they don’t go on strike in earnest, or if it happens, it won’t be for long. But I think they have gone on strike in the past and lasted well over a month.

 

[Sanlynn]

Yes, I did get mine sent out this morning as well. Hoping they get to you all in time.

 

[Charvet]

Wow. I better get mine started or you will get new years cards instead. The one I received from Lay is so inspiring.

 

[Charvet]

It should have read Kay.

 

[Charvet]

I finally got any idea. Now it’s just executing it.

 

[PaintBoss]

You aren’t gonna have Santa mooning me Barb, are you?

 

[KreativeK]

Finally located this thread; for some reason thought it was on Watermedia.

The 4x6s I sent who have received them are as follows:
Christine -

Christmas Deer

Sanlynn

Christmas Star

Charvet (Barb)

Full Moon at Christmas

 

[PaintBoss]

They are so beautiful Kay. Thank you for mine.
I like thinking that my deer is looking up in wonder at the magical winter Wonderland snowing down!
I like your vantage point of your tree. The blurred foreground and the star in focus. It looks so pretty.
And that is an awesome moody, night scene. I expect to see Santa and his sleigh and reindeer traversing the skies at any moment!

 

[Charvet]

They are all so wonderful Kay but I knew they would be! I really like the graceful line of the deer and its antlers. The colors you used in the night skies is just beautiful. The composition on the Christmas tree card is unique.
Thank you for my card. I enjoy looking at it. It is so calming .

 

[PaintBoss]

Well, Canada Post went on strike on Friday. This can last over a month so we’ll see when the cards get to everybody. Mine got out, but I don’t know if they made it over the border. And I don’t think they made it out to the other side of Canada either.

 

[PaintBoss]

Well, amazingly enough it looks like some of the American cards were able to get out of Canada before the mail strike! Which is fantastic because I wasn’t quite sure they did. It was down to the wire. I have a feeling our Canadian participants will have a long wait for their cards.
And I know this because Kay sent me a message saying she had received her Christmas card from me, and here it is. This was done in gouache. 4x6”

 

[KreativeK]

The Santas are singing they got to Texas before the strike.

 

[Ellen Easton]

I received mine from Kay and it's really beautiful. I just love it! I'm not sure but I think it came Saturday---our power went out and we had snow so my daughter didn't get the mail. She was busy fixing me up with a propane heater and food and going around seeing that our other neighbors were all okay, too.

The night before that she was out hiking through the woods with a neighbor who asked her to help him find a bear he had shot but it didn't die and ran away. There was a big male nearby a few days ago and I forgot to ask if that was the one.

 

[PaintBoss]

Your children sound like really good people Ellen. I really like how they look out for others. They do this a lot I know. I hope you got your power back relatively quickly. I imagine it goes out easily up there. Hope they found the bear. That can happen.

 

[Ellen Easton]

I'm proud of my kids. I tell people my kids grew up so well not so much because of me but in spite of me. I was raised in such a way that I didn't have healthy role models for parenting so I had to figure out how to raise kids differently and all we had in those days was Dr. Spock. The kids' father never paid any support so I was adrift trying to raise the four of them alone. I was just at my own wit's end for how to get them raised to be but I just talked to them as honestly as I could.

The guy who shot the bear didn't find it. He says they scared each other. He had gone to gather the last of the mushrooms when the bear rushed at him, which they don't usually do and all he had with him was a black powder handgun that shot round lead ammunition and he said it probably didn't even penetrate the bear. It was startled by the noise and ran off.

Right now we're all staying inside during the dark hours because we've got cougars in the park during the night. A couple nights ago there were two in here over at my daughter's place. She had been having some really unsettling sounds for a few days, hearing something heavy on her roof and one night it sounded like something was tearing up something under her house and then last night my daughter-in-law saw one in her yard. She's only two doors down from me so that's enough to keep me indoors without any problem. My grand-daughter was spending the weekend with me but went to karaoke night in the valley with friends. I texted her and told her to just stay with her friends till tomorrow instead of coming back when it's dark.

 

[PaintBoss]

Yes, you should be proud raising those kids by yourself and they all turning out so well. Especially caring for others so much. It’s possible, but we’re losing an awful lot of that generosity. I think more with every decade.
I loved hearing about the bear search. It must’ve scared the heck out of that guy. Wrong gun for that situation! I’m just glad he wasn’t hurt.
And I read your post to my husband because we found it so interesting. I don’t blame you for wanted to stay inside either. Never thought of cougars on the roof tops -yikes. You gotta be built tough and sensible living up there.