"Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas." -Donatella Versace
I lay awake in bed, tossing and turning, my brain whirling with ideas.
The time was mid-November and like a proper elf in Santa's workshop, I had Christmas on my mind.
Christmas ornaments, to be exact.
^ Ta da! Here's the finished collection for my immediate family.
Though I later decided to make one for each of our eight past and present pets.
On the one hand, this was a familiar process. For the last 38 years, since I've been making homemade ornaments to give to my extended families, this front-end creative brainstorming has been a necessary - and mostly enjoyable - part of the process. But this year, I was feeling a bit more stuck than usual.
Early on, I'd landed on the idea of using some of my husband's discarded tartan plaid flannel shirts. Don't worry; he has a worthy collection of keepers and I already had four more brand new models tucked away to give him for Christmas. When I asked him if he might have a few worn shirts to donate to my cause, he quickly said yes.
^ The process begins with cutting squares from my husband's old shirts. He gave me six different patterns and yes, he knows the proper Scottish clan name for each one.
With my fabric in hand, freshly laundered and ironed, it was time to dial in my design.
I'd seen quite a few ideas that involved
but I had my heart set on sewing.
I kinda wanted to work an initial into the design.
With felt?
Embroidery?
Or should I cut the fabric into the letter shapes and sew them like little alphabetical pillows?
Oh, and did I mention that I needed to whip up 53 of these babies in a month's time?
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The Christmas Ornament Workshop clock was quickly counting down the hours till mailing day, and I felt some serious pressure. I do not know how those North Pole elves cope.
^ For most of the ornaments, I used red felt, which was a) the color that coordinated best and b) the most Christmas-y. But my daughters always like to have some extra latitude in designing their own ornaments, so I broke out some shades of green and white.
So I lay there in the dark, my mind whizzing with dozens of half-baked ideas, when something happened.
Suddenly, I felt pure calm.
And in a snap, the vision of my new ornament design came into perfect focus.
I saw exactly which materials I would use.
How I would design them and cut them and sew them together.
I imagined what tools and supplies I would need.
I remembered every single sewing technique I'd ever learned from my mom and grandma.
I knew exactly how I would bring my vision to life.
^ Ready for sewing.
And guess what.
After many a night of three a.m. sewing sessions and a half-dozen needle pricks, to my complete and utter satisfaction, my 2022 Ornaments of the Year were done.
Every single one turned out exactly as I had imagined.
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^ Ready for the sleigh.
As a proper elf does, I wrapped them up and sent them off in a flurry, across the country and around the world.
^ d is for Diane.
But I kept one for myself. And every time I look at it, I remember that beautiful moment of clarity and calm when my vision flashed into being.
And I can't wait to do it all again next year.
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For more Ornament of the Year posts, check these out:
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