Tag: christmas

Christmas Cartoon Collaboration with Kevin Beckstrom and Arie van de Graaf

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When I started my website four years ago, I never imagined I’d be a cartoonist. And so I never imagined I’d be doing a Luke 2 cartoon collaboration with some of the best cartoonists in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Kevin Beckstrom and Arie van de Graaf.

To celebrate a month of #LightTheWorld, we each drew cartoons to focus on a few verses of Luke 2.

All of the cartoons are on Kevin Beckstrom’s website, Beckstrom Buzz: Light the World: Looping Luke 2. Kevin also lives in Salem, Oregon, which is pretty amazing to me! I would never have expected to find another LDS cartoonist here.

Arie van de Graaf is well known for his cartoon seek-and-find pictures that he draws for the Friend magazine. His website is the Ward Cartoonist.

Check out both of their sites! They both were a huge help when I started drawing cartoons for the Church.

Here are my contributions to the collab.

Something a Little Different

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There’s something magical about trying something new. Last year, my friend’s dad needed some help painting windows for Christmas. We spent long hours painting out in the cold, but it was so much fun. My friend’s dad painted outlines on the windows, and I followed along behind, filling them in. It was like a life sized coloring book had been layered over the windows and doors of various businesses and homes in town.

There were tricks to be learned, of course. Getting the right thickness of paint without dripping paint anywhere, the right order to unpacking and packing things up, always remembering to stir the paint before using it, so many little things that made a big difference. I asked when I was uncertain about things, and my friend’s dad was patient with my questions.

They needed extra help again this year. Today, I spent hours helping paint windows for Christmas. I’ll probably be doing the same for much of next week. I’m really looking forward to it!

Charlie’s Room: A Great Plan

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The Jansen family down the street had a new baby. The baby was born the day after Christmas. “It’s too bad he missed all the fun,” Charlie said. “He should have come a day earlier. If your birthday is on Christmas, do you get twice as many presents?”

“I’m not sure,” Isaac said. “But that seems fair.”

“We have a present to give him now,” Marianne said. She held up a wrapped box.

“Isn’t that Christmas paper?” Charlie asked. “He missed Christmas. You need to use birthday paper.”

“It’s stripes,” Isaac pointed out. “That can be for birthdays too.”

“But it’s Christmas colors. And we used it for Christmas.”

“Red and gold aren’t just for Christmas. And they won’t know we wrapped our Christmas presents with this paper, as long as we don’t tell them.” Marianne raised an eyebrow.

“Fine.” Charlie huffed and crossed his arm. “But if he cries when he sees the present, it’s because he knows Christmas wrapping paper when he sees it.”

Marianne rolled her eyes. “He’s a baby. He doesn’t care. Let’s go.”

So they put on their coats and hats and mittens and boots. The snow was a mix of crunchy and soft, the way it gets when winter won’t make up its mind and everything thaws a bit, refreezes, new snow falls, and it starts all over. Marianne and Isaac stuck to the shoveled path, but Charlie waded through the deep snow just to the sides of the path.

The Jansens lived just around the corner. It didn’t take long to get there. It did take a while for Charlie to brush and stomp all the snow off when Mr. Jansen answered the door and invited them inside.

Charlie hurried into the living room where Mrs. Jansen was sitting in a comfortable looking chair, rocking a small bundled-up baby. Charlie put his hands behind his back and leaned in close to look. Mrs. Jansen gently positioned the baby so Charlie could see him better.

“Oh,” Charlie said softly. “He’s so little. Even his fingernails are little.”

The baby stirred and opened his eyes, just as Isaac and Marianne entered the room. Charlie turned to them with a wide grin. “Mom! Dad! Did you see the baby? He’s so small!”

The baby scrunched up his little face and began to wail. Charlie turned to look at the baby and then looked at Marianne with a frown. “Was it because he saw the present? I bet he doesn’t like it.”

Mrs. Jensen laughed. “He’s hungry.” She held the baby close as she stood up. “I need to go feed him.”

Charlie held up his hands. “But you didn’t open the present. I want to see what we got the baby.”

“I’ll open the present,” Mr. Jensen said.

Charlie turned to look at him, eyes wide with surprise. “But it’s for the baby.”

“I’ll make sure he gets it. He’s not big enough to open presents yet.” Mr. Jensen smiled at Charlie.

Marianne handed him the present. Charlie frowned, but sat on the couch without saying anything. Marianne and Isaac sat by him as Mr. Jansen sat in the comfortable chair.

He tore open the paper. Charlie leaned forward to look. “We got the baby books? Babies can’t read.”

“We’ll read them to him,” Mr. Jansen said. “Thank you for the gift.”

“Like a bedtime story? That’s good.” Charlie jumped up. “Let’s go.”

“Congratulations,” Marianne said.

“Happy new year,” Isaac added.

“Happy new baby,” Charlie said.

Mr. Jansen laughed and led them to the door. On the way home, Charlie stuck to the sidewalk. “Was I that little?”

“Yes.”

“And you read to me when I was that little?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t remember that.” Charlie held onto Isaac’s hand. “I don’t remember being a baby.” He walked quietly for a few steps. “Next year, will the baby be big enough to open his own presents?”

“Probably.”

“Next year, let’s get birthday wrapping paper. And we can get the baby more books.”

Isaac squeezed his hand. “That sounds like a great plan.”

Marianne smiled back over her shoulder. “We can do that.”

Rest

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Christmas is over, and I am tired.

I love Christmas, but there is always so much going on at once and so much pressure—probably mostly self-inflicted.

I’d like to take a little break. Unfortunately, I still haven’t figured out how to freeze time. That makes this a little more difficult.

How do you rest without coming back to even more work to do?

Some ways to find rest on a busy schedule:

  • Ask for help or just some company along the way. Prayer counts too. Feeling less alone makes things seem less crazy.
  • Sing a hymn or a song that makes you smile. You may feel silly, but it does help.
  • Do less. Even just a little less. Give yourself that permission.
  • Breathe. Listen to your breath. Let your worries wait for a minute or two. Breathe them away.
  • Take a short nap (set an alarm). *This does not work for me, but it does for others.
  • Sketch something. I like to sketch how I’m feeling as monsters—it gives a silly face to my problems.
  • Look for what’s funny. Think of one funny thing that happened today. Imagine telling someone about it—exaggerate it a little. Use silly voices. Write it down.
  • Look for hope. How will tomorrow be better? Next week? What awesome things are you looking forward to this evening? This weekend?

→ Things will get better. Somehow, they always do. Wait for it. ❤️

Do you have any ideas to add to my list? Please let me know!