Celebrations - November's Art Bead Scene Blog Topic

As I thought about the topic of Celebrations, I thought about the upcoming holidays.  Thanksgiving and Easter are always spent with Chris's family at his Aunt Janet and Uncle Les's place near Wellfleet, Nebraska.  They run Dancing Leaf Lodge, a cultural learning and Native American education center.  Their business and home are located on an old Boy Scout camp, with lots of hills for hiking, tree swings for sailing through the trees, and more turkeys than you can count!  When we gather at Janet and Les's, we are in a group of family that ranges anywhere from five to fifty.  We come and go, eat too much, laugh and play games, and enjoy the reconnecting with family we haven't seen in six months.  Chris and I also have sold jewelry made with Chris's sculptural beads through Janet and Les's gift shop.  We have bunny earrings in Japan and turkey earrings in Brazil!  Visitors from all over the world visit the center, learn about Native American customs, hike, sleep in an Earth Lodge (accurately recreated), and enjoy Janet's amazing cooking (including buffalo stew and blue corn muffins). I have also been thinking a great deal about the many, many blessings we have been granted this year.  I am prone to these thoughts at this time of year, due the the many years of watching my Mom do her Christmas cards each year, and me writing our annual Christmas letter.  We have enjoyed so many new opportunities with our beading and jewelry business.  New venues, writing opportunities, and classes have broadened our horizons and our client base.  We have enjoyed meeting so many new people and visiting with our friends at the art fairs, craft shows, and the farmer's market.  When I started working tonight, I fought with my computer trying to put pictures together in a collage.  I found this software and it worked great. Below are photos of our family at the top, and a few of our designs, mine in the middle, Chris's on the bottom.  We have much to be thankful for and are anticipating sharing the joys and blessings we have had with our family.

Another digital collage by Smilebox

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