December 2010
Every year I produce a Christmas card to send out to my friends and family. This year proved to be pretty difficult.
I was in a particularly sober mood – not melancholy, but, well… realistic.
I was in reality, a conflicting place to be in come December. All the Christmastime wackiness didn’t really do much for me. Every time I sat down to draw out the card I got stumped. I finally settled on doing a nativity, perhaps something like a stained glass window. I began by following the traditional route: animals, wizards, shepherds, and of course Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. But it still felt schmaltzy.
Then, while experimenting, I drew a box around a sketch of Mary, and honed in on her story. The darkness she had passed through, and the darkness that awaited her, and the hope that was present and real for her that night.
That seemed more like the reality I was witnessing; despair the breeding ground for joy, darkness providing light with its definition. Living in reality, and still being in love.
Next year I’ll probably produce something more cheerful. That’s one of the things that’s great about doing an annual discipline such as this – in the end, I get a time capsule of where I’ve been.
