Back in June, I visited Peru and bought everyone in my family a pair of alpaca socks for Christmas. As thrifty as I am, I knew simply giving everyone a pair of socks was a little lean. Yet, buying for 9 people adds up very quickly.
I’m not sure when I got the brilliant idea to paint everyone a 4 X 5″ canvas from pictures, but I pounced on the task within a week. I ordered 9 canvases from a local art supply store since they did not have the total amount I needed. In the meantime, I selected and cropped the pictures I wanted to sketch on each canvas. I’m so glad I did myself the favor of not putting any background. This allowed me to use white paint to correct some mistakes. Other mistakes were lack of skill!
The picture I selected for my youngest nephew predates his mohawk, which he’s had since he was 5. We were checking out of the hotel after spending the weekend at our annual family reunion. He’d hopped on the luggage cart for a ride.
My youngest niece had participated in teen pageants. She ended that phase after two years and had her crown.
Last time I’d visited, I teased my oldest niece about always being on her phone. Apparently she still had a good sense of balance since she’d recently been accepted to VCU’s honor program.
When he was 16, my oldest nephew visited me in Honduras. We stayed in hotels with swimming pools. At one point, I looked over from reading poolside and discovered a rat was treading water around him. I snapped the picture, then told him to get out of the pool so the men could take care of the rodent.
One of the few times I visited my parents’ house for Christmas, it snowed. After the second snowfall, Mom made snow cream, which was the only thing good about it snowing. Here, one of my sisters ladles out her serving.
My other sister has a passion for hats. I knew any portrait I painted of her, she’d be wearing one. Although I didn’t capture the exactness or details of the hat in the picture, this was close enough for my purposes!
I was limited in my choices for my brother-in-law’s canvas. I thought this pose, minus the rocking chair, did well.
I’ve documented all of Mom’s home remedies in an essay; so, this canvas captures one of her latest: eating nine gin-soaked golden raisins for the arthritis in her knee.
Finally, for Dad’s canvas, I chose a picture from when I’d returned home for Christmas and it snowed. Here, Dad measures how much snow has fallen on top of his car.
After a cancelled flight and 6-hour campout at the airport, I had a good night’s rest and the wrapped gifts. Magically, more gifts appeared under the tree, which were overflowing by the time Christmas Eve rolled around.
For the second Christmas in a row, my nieces and nephew got up late. This one was awake enough to cover her face when I came in to check on her and her sister.
My other niece was oblivious.
My nephew, the youngest, had been awake for hours, but hadn’t led the pack to kick off the Christmas present unwrapping.
Of course, the big sleep-in had to do with no longer believing in Santa–except for snarky T-shirts!
They’d finally got into present-unwrapping position. A few were grumpy we’d eaten breakfast before opening presents, but all we adults told them they’d missed the before-breakfast opportunity. I hope it’s the start of a new tradition.
One of my sisters was the first to open her gift from me.
Even though people caught on they were getting a pair of Peruvian socks and a canvas, it was still entertaining to see their reactions to their portrait.
Dad had let me borrow his Air Force dog tags for one of my spoken word and poetry shows.
I surprised him by putting them in his gift bag along with his socks and canvas.
I’d always teased one of my nieces for being a redbone. The complexion on her canvas showed a serious tan, but she liked it.
I think my nephew was far more impressed with the racy mini poster of the all-female rock band than he was with the canvas I’d painted for him.
It was all I could do to have him put it down and get the other gifts out of the bag.
One of my nieces had spent a week with me in Austin.
She’d survived a beginner’s capoeira class as part of her visit.
My other niece immediately recognized the shirt her sister wore in the canvas.
Here I thought I’d fudged it so much that it had become my own design.
The complexion of my other sister’s canvas was also much darker than she is in real life, but she loved the hat.
Usually, my sister and her husband gave gift cards as our stocking stuffers.
This time around, they’d misplaced them and gave us cash instead. Worked for me!
My brother-in-law claimed I didn’t give him enough hair in his portrait. Ironically, this picture cut off his head.
Despite my exotic and sentimental homemade gifts, Mom topped me with her personalized Afghan of my sister and her husband about 30 years ago.
Originally, I’d wanted to get a picture of Mom and Dad’s new smiles, but Dad claimed he wanted to keep his smile “top secret” until all his dental work was completed.
And no Christmas story would be complete without a shot of Mom and Dad napping with the TV on after all was said and done around noon.