Redtree Times

Colors of the Season— Available at West End Gallery

Here’s wishing you the bluest sky
And hoping something better comes tomorrow
Hoping all the verses rhyme
And the very best of choruses, too
Follow all the doubt and sadness
I know that better things are on the way

—Better Things, Kinks, 1981

Well, if you haven’t noticed, we’re smack dab in the middle of the holiday season with Christmas only a week from today. It’s hard to get away from holiday music, advertising and television shows and movies dedicated to the season. The Hallmark Channel runs Christmas themed movies for all of November and December and I think they even ran them for the entire month of July. That’s seems excessive but who am I to judge what other people want — or need– to watch?

I say need because it is a season that brings some people a lot of comfort. And a lot of stress to many others. Gift giving is a hard thing.

Not the actual giving of the gift. I love giving gifts to people, regardless of the season. I always somehow feel somehow lighter, as though the act of giving has taken the weight of some unknown burden off my shoulders. It’s hard to explain.

No, it’s the act of deciding what to give someone that creates the stress. Is it adequate, something that leaves the recipient feeling underwhelmed? Or is it too extravagant, something that has the recipient feeling a sense of debt and obligation to the giver? Trying to find that middle ground where the recipient feels like they have received a meaningful gift without feeling that weight of debt to the giver is a fine line to tread.

It certainly has filled me with anxiety over the years. I wish there were an easier way to show people that you care and that you wish them better things. Maybe just saying that can be enough. 

Anyway, I wish you a little less stress in the coming week and just better things all the way around. Here’s a song from one of my favorites, the Kinks. It’s not a holiday song but it certainly captures the sentiment. It’s called Better Things.

The painting at the top, Colors of the Season, is a piece that was used as my holiday card a few years back. It’s one of my favorites of the holiday themed paintings I’ve done. I think it’s the fact that the colors are not the typical colors associated with the holiday and the lightness of its feeling. It’s just one of those pieces that carries the sense of rightness I have long talked about and sought in my work. It’s being offered at the West End Gallery for just a short time.