sky blue

i remember a long time ago, when i was a little girl, my dad made our family's christmas card one year.  he carved an intricate design out of a block of wood, inked the wood, and stamped it onto light blue card stock.  he then had the image professionally printed.  i remember that card.  it was an abstract design, with many lines and white spaces.  in the right hand lower corner, in cursive, was our last name.  at the time, my ten (or so) year old mind didn't see the purpose, the beauty, in doing such a laborious thing.  why go through so much trouble, to do this, and then and drag your whole family that one winter afternoon, walking through long hallways of that building, to to pick up the finished project?  i remember being very annoyed that day.

fast forward to tonight, about 25 years later.  and i find myself staying up late, hand assembling some christmas gift tags -- black and white polka-dots on the front (with a red, snowflake sticker in the corner) and the same, sky blue paper on the back.  staring at that paper just now reminded me of that card, and of my dad, who is now half way around the world and unable to spend christmas with us this year....

merry christmas dad, if you are reading this.  i guess i am a lot more like you than i ever really knew!