Every Day Life: Snapshots of Christmas

By Lara

[Editor's Note: Lara wrote a fabulous post two weeks ago about trying to come up with something creative to write for her Christmas letter to her family and friends. Here is the rest of the story.]

A little girl in a yellow nightgown sits on her knees smiling at someone in the background. The frost has laced the window behind her with intricate fragile swirls. The early morning light brushes against her golden locks. Spread out on the floor, scattered amongst crumpled red wrappings, are pieces to a building set. Bright colored sticks with tiny plastic connectors. She is building a tower. It will be the tallest tower that she's ever built - taller than she is. Her eyes sparkle and her cheeks glow. Her father helps her reach higher and higher. Her mother takes pictures of this favorite gift the girl will almost remember that she loved.

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Every Day Life: Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman (at Christmas)

By Lara

She sits alone in her bedroom looking for any and every distraction possible to keep her from coming up with something creative to write for the holidays. She's already finished half of her vacation scrapbook… made lists of people to buy gifts for… watched a movie or three… called half the people in her phonebook… played her cat to exhaustion… fed and entertained her parents… Sigh. If she had sucked it up and spent $4.88 per 12 cards in a box of non-tacky Christmas cards at Walmart, she could be addressing envelopes right now… and staring at a blank computer screen trying to write a Christmas LETTER. She takes a deep breath. And so she begins.

Right. What will I write this year to amuse and entertain my friends and family? A fable? No. It's been done… recently. Remember the penguin? A play? Hmm. I wrote a Thanksgiving play last year. I guess this year should be a story of some kind.

A story. What could I write about? It has to be funny… People have come to expect that from me. And it has to be appropriate for both friend and family audiences alike. Let me think. What is funny? Bananas are funny. Banana. Banana. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Sigh. No bananas. Oooo. It could be about an animal. Everybody loves Christmas stories about animals. Ok. So… there could be this hippo. And she's friends with a… lion. Wait. That seems too… Madagascar. No hippos. Weasels with chainsaws are funny, but not universally appealing. Maybe I should put funny on the back burner for a bit.

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