Greetings! ...from Kimberly Shaw

Merry Christmas

From my home to yours, wishing all my blogging pals a Very Merry Christmas!!!  Tonight if you had a chance to visit, the smell of pumpkin spiced bread would greet you at the door. I'd invite you in and start a pot of Harney & Sons Holiday Tea.
 

Snowflake Tradition

Hanging snowflakes started as a family's tradition 14 Christmas' ago when the kids were really little. Due to the economy in the mid-1990's I lost my design job at an Architectural office. With my husband's job just covering the mortgage of our recently purchased first home, we had very little money for gifts. We did however have paper, scissors, thread and tape. Together we made white snowflakes in all sizes and hung them from the ceiling of our little dinning room. It was beautiful and really came alive when they turned on the ceiling fan.  The kid's had no idea Christmas should me any different.  In fact, it never changed since then.  At our recent home we have an entry hall with a lowered ceiling (yes, 1960's) which stages our growing snowflake collection perfectly. Each time the front door opens, they all blow happily in the breeze.

 

Christmas Lights

I love Christmas lights.  Communities become beacons where just a month before all was dim.  Light is the first element God created when He formed the world we live in.  Genesis 1:3 tells us, "Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light".  Light is mentioned throughout the entire Bible, especially in reference to Jesus.  "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. 

Wishing the Light of this season illuminates your heart and brings you great joy.

Holiday Teacup Greeting Cards

                                         HOLLY BERRIES

                               CHRISTMAS WISHES

                                   HOLIDAY GREETINGS

                                    SEASONS GREETINGS

                                       HAPPY HANUKKAH
 
My teacup holiday Teacup greeting cards are available in my STORE.

Christmas Music Teacup Greeting Card

Watercolored with the melody of Christmas in mind.  The sheet music of Handel's "Messiah,  No.12, For Unto Us a Child id born," was illustrated with permanent ink after the watercolor wash of the sheet music was painted.

Available in my STORE.

Christmas Lambs

Inspired by vintage postcards, I watercolored this Teacup greeting card with a church steeple in the background of a shepherdess with her sheep in a snow covered pasture in front of a yellow cottage.  The outside text reads, "Sincere Christmas Blessings. 'This I pray that God may bless...'" continuing on the inside with, ..."All thy way, with happiness. Merry Christmas"

Available  in my store.

Happy Christmas Teacup Greeting Card

Watercolored to be used with refreshing Mint tea, my "Happy Christmas" Teacup greeting card was inspired by the peace Christ brought into the world, along with one of my family's favorite Christmas candy. The inside reads, "May your home be filled with the Peace of Christmas."

Available in my store.

Christmas Nativity Teacup Greeting Card

This is one of my Teacup Greeting Cards with a funny story, humbling to tell, but funny still.  One year I put off for last the painting of a new Christmas card which needed to be included in that season's new line.  I was ambitious trying to watercolor 8 new cards and was drained of ideas. I went for a walk and prayed for God to give me an idea of what He wanted me to paint.  He filled my mind with this idea, and I sat down to paint a star brightly shining, casting shadows behind the shepherds and sheep, as well as the manger and lamb in the foreground.  Behind is the little town of Bethlehem. When I was finished I mounted it next to the other new cards and proclaimed, "Wow! I'm amazing!!!"  Returning to my desk to clean up, and feeling quite puffed-up with my accomplishments, my exuberant striding foot stumbled on the leg of my desk. Being pitched off balance, my upper body plunged surprisingly forcefully onto my desktop, my glasses digging deep into my face.  As I lay there catching my breath, God (who just previously and very generously blessed me with the idea for this card) reminded me of another thing He said,
    "Pride goes before destruction,
     a haughty spirit before a fall."
                Proverbs 16:18 
I quickly apologized and always remember who created me and gave me the ability to paint in the first place.

This card comes with Harrisons & Crosfield's Earl Grey tea.  The inside message reads, ""Behold, I bring you good tidings of Great Joy which will be to all people. Luke 2:10"

Available in my STORE.

12 Days of Christmas Teacup Greeting Card

Inspired by pear groves in California's Delta, I water colored this teapot, stacked teacups and desert plate depicting each element from the 12 Days of Christmas song.  It comes with Harney & Sons Holiday Tea. Inside message reads,
        "I'd like to play you a Christmas song
         of a partridge in a pear tree,
        but since I can't I'm sending you
        this warm cup of Holiday Tea.
        Merry Christmas"

Available in my STORE.

While there is some dispute over this translation of the song, tradition has it that in England, between 1558 and 1829, Catholics were prohibited by law to practice their faith wither in public or private.  Until Parliament emancipated Catholics in England in 1829, it was illegal to be Catholic.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was a coded message written in England as a memory aid to help young Catholics learn the basics of their faith. Since the song sounded like rhyming nonsense, authorities would not know that is was a religious song, and young Catholics could sing it without fear of imprisonment.  The song is, in a sense, an allegory with each of the gifts in the song representing something significant to the Bible.

The song begins, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me..."  The "true love" repeated in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, but to God himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to the believing Christian. The "partridge in a pear tree" is Jesus Christ upon the Cross. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge because she would feign injury to decoy s predator away from her nestlings. She was even willing to die for them. The tree is the symbol of the fall of the human race through the sin of Adam and Eve. It is also the symbol of its redemption by Jesus Christ on the tree of the cross.  The "two turtle doves" refers to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  The "three French hens" stand for faith, hope and love -- the three gifts of the Spirit that abide, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13.  The "four calling birds" refer to the four evangelists who wrote the Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The "five golden rings" represents the first five books of the Bible, also called the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  The "six geese a-laying" is the six days of creation.  The "seven swans a-swimming" refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.  The "eight maids a-milking" reminded children of the eight beatitudes listed in the Sermon on the Mount.

The "nine ladies dancing" were the nine fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  The "ten lords a-leaping" represents the Ten Commandments.  The "eleven pipers piping" refers to the eleven faithful apostles.  The "twelve drummers drumming" were the twelve points of belief expressed in the Apostle's Creed: belief in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, made man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, that he sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.

Woodland Holiday Teacup Christmas Greeting Card

I water colored this Christmas teacup greeting card, inspired by teacups with beautiful designs painted on the inside of the cup. The background depicts squirrels on branches collecting acorns. It comes with Harney & Sons Holiday Tea inserted under the saucer. The inside reads,
     "Have a very merry Christmas,
      It's the best time of the year.
      With your home filled up with gladness,
      And your loved ones all drawn near.
      Merry Christmas"

Available in my STORE.