Seed Planters Hand-Painted Ornaments
Seed Planters
One-of-a-Kind, Hand-Painted Christmas Ornaments
Coming Friday, November 19th to Collectors Club Members
Public release on Saturday, November 20th
“There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
-C.S. Lewis
For the first time ever, I am offering hand-painted Christmas ornaments in my Holiday Shop this year and I am so excited! Painting ornaments is a new tradition I hope to incorporate as part of my holiday season. In fact, I named these ornaments “Seed Planters” in honor of the people out there forging their own paths by weeding out the old traditions they have outgrown, and seeding new, soul-nourishing traditions to cherish for years on.
The holiday season brings with it the nostalgia of long-held family traditions. My most favorite memories of the holiday season are from when my grandmother, Marcella, was still alive. I come from a pretty big family and for the week of Christmas all of my grandmother’s children (5 total) and their children (12 total) and their children (11 at that time) would gather together at her house on the hill the week of Christmas to eat, play games, watch movies, play Yahtzee, and reconnect over the miles and years of life that had grown between us.
When my grandmother passed away, my mother moved into her home and has kept the tradition alive, taking up the mantle of host, and keeping the house on the hill as the heart of the family; the point of gravity drawing us all back together to reconnect every year.
One of the very first Christmases my husband, Adam, and I shared, after my grandmother had passed away and long before the pandemic imposed restrictions around people gathering together indoors, Adam walked through my mom’s house counting all of the people. He comes from a smaller family, so he wasn’t used to holiday gatherings quite like ours. I remember him coming up to me, somewhat amazed and saying, “There are 29 people in this house right now.”
I absolutely loved this tradition in our family. Yes, it gets a little hectic, especially when it comes to sleeping arrangements for everybody, or who’s turn it is at the yahtzee table, but I love getting to see my family and their families, and hear their stories and see how they’re growing.
For many of us, though, this past year meant that a lot of our long-standing family traditions, like the tradition of packing 30 people into the house on the hill, had to be broken and new traditions had to take their place.
Because we weren’t spending as much time at the house on the hill (we visited briefly outdoors around the fire pit), this meant we spent more time at home celebrating with our own little family and being more intentional about the time we spent together and making our home all the more cozy and festive. I have since spent more time thinking about what holiday traditions are worth keeping, like holding special people close and letting them know how much I love them, and what traditions I am ready to let go of, like avoiding vulnerable conversations and the assortment of casseroles my mom makes (if you read this, I love you mom!).
These ornaments, to me, are representative of the traditions we choose to keep and the new traditions we choose to make. Each of these ornaments are hand-painted and each one is completely unique, no two are exactly alike. I painted them intending for them to be incorporated into long-held family traditions and, like the good traditions that endure, be passed down as precious heirlooms for generations to come.
Collectors Club Members will get exclusive access to this collection of ornaments on Friday, November the 19th. The ornaments will then become publicly available on November 20th. To make sure you don’t miss out on collecting your ornament, join the Collectors Club here!