Day 47 - (Christmas Eve 2010) "Vintage" Garfield Painting (Give)

My little brother, Russ, made this Give easy for me.  He still lives in the house we grew up in and, in fact, is currently fixing it up to put it on the market in anticipation of getting married this summer.  I can only assume that somewhere in the midst of renovations and cleaning and tossing (much like we've been doing here), he found this portrait of Garfield which I painted as a kid.  (Garfield looks fat and sloppy in the painting because that's how Jim Davis first drew him, not because I was a bad artist.... just wanted to make that clear!)

So Russ thought it would be clever to wrap this thing up and give it to me for Christmas. We gathered the family together last night at another brother's house after the 6:00 PM church service to eat and exchange gifts. 

I have to admit, this Christmas has been a bit stressful with my current mindset of radical downsizing so that we can get ourselves ready to head to Haiti.  I keep thinking of December 25th representing two steps (at least) backwards as we are trying to reduce clutter AND save money.  I tried hard to find MICRO-gifts for the kids.  It was my idea to get Dats (age 9) the "spy watch".  (It was Melissa's idea to get Ida (age 7) the ginormous Nerf dart gun!)  Also, Melissa and I decided to do nothing beyond stocking stuffers for each other - which had the dual benefit of cutting down on stuff around the house AND cutting down on the stress of shopping prior to Christmas.

So when I unwrapped the Garfield painting, I was relieved to see something that could be immediately dumped in the trash without even making the trip back to our house!  But when I voiced my intentions, my niece, Lauren, claimed the painting for her own.  (Why???)  She said she liked "vintage" things ... or maybe it was "retro", I don't remember - all I heard was "ancient and tacky".  Well, it's hers now and that's kind of nice:  Great art is timeless and meant to be enjoyed for generations.

Merry Christmas!

P.S.  I was able to give the weird carved black thing (Day 45) to Russ and Alecia and all the adults gathered around (after the kids ran off with their new presents) and prayed for their relationship.  It was very meaningful - I am glad we took the opportunity to do it.  We don't pray often enough with extended family.  In fact, the last time I remember praying with family members (beyond saying grace at mealtimes) was when my Dad passed away over 7 years ago - Kristine (my sister-in-law) led in prayer as we stood around his bed just after he had taken his last breath.  It was a powerful and spontaneous spiritual moment and that prayer arose (I believe) not out of some sense of duty but rather out of a recognition of God's very real presence in that room in that moment. 

We should pray more.