Merry Christmas!

The studio closes at noon today and we're grateful for the busy season that it has been for us but we are also looking forward to a week's respite with family and friends. What gets me through this jam packed season that is really supposed to be about expectant waiting and preparation is a new book of meditations I treat myself to each year, all the delicous sugary treats, and laughing at commercial advertisements for "the season". Here were a few commercial slogans that gave me a chuckle this year:

• Let’s make Christmas! (how could we "make it" better than it's already been made?)


• You can give them Christmas (for a jewelry store)


• A million reasons to Believe (for a department store)

Merry Christmas to you and yours. We look forward to the next year of helping you celebrate the visual with stoles and worship banners from our studio.

Greeting Cards

It's the season to receive an influx of Chrismas cards. Many of those with religous art images will be reproductions of Renaissance paintings. Paintings from this time period were produced for churches, for the home, or for people to travel with and show others to inspire or help others contemplate a scene in hopes that they would draw closer to the meaning of the life of Christ. The symbolism is extensive in these paintings. A wonderful article is found here if you'd like to learn more about decoding specific symbols such as why Joseph is often portrayed as an old man, why we don't see more paintings that include a cave, and what the order of the wisemen and how they are standing might mean. I love the idea of the Renaissance notion that the art can be a teaching tool or open the door for conversation with a friend. This isn't so foreign an idea for us today. We sometimes just need reminders that there is a vast amount of people that respond to the visual. Enjoy your Christmas cards and consider setting them in obviously places for others to see or saving the artwork to use at a later "teachable moment".

Looking for a Christmas Craft?

Here's an idea based on an old favorite activity...

Create a "Chain of Blessings" that will decorate your christmas tree: using colorful slips of construction paper, have each family member or church member write down blessings that they have enjoyed throughout the year; attach the slips together to make a paper garland of blessing around the christmas tree.

If you've like to go the extra mile and create a chain that can be enjoyed and added to for many year you can make it out of fabric and write your blessings with a fabric maker. Here is a tutorial.

Chains like this are great because they can be made by all ages, can be a great "team" project, and the repetative activity can actually be soothing and calming cause us to sit and pause during what is supposed to be a reflective season. Have fun!

And the winner is....

Drum roll please...G.S. from Virginia is today's winner of 50% off a stole from our website! He is a longtime client of our studio and enjoys officaiting at weddings. An interesting fact regarding his ministry is that he says the official blessing for the participants at his local breat cancer awareness walk in the fall.

Thanks to all that participated with such interesting comments, nuggets of history, and insight as to why we celebrate Christmas in December!

Keep checking the Carrot Top Studio blog--you never know when the next contest or special offer will be.

First Ever Christmas Trivia Contest!

The Holy Family, Giorgione, probably 1500, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

This past Sunday I ushered in Advent by worshiping at a church that is not my home church. I was there to hear a candidacy sermon and observe the congregation calling a new associate pastor. It was joy filled and if you have time to pause and listen to the 11/30 sermon you may do so here.

Digesting the sermon prompted the topic of Carrot Top Studio's first ever trivia contest. Comment on the trivia question on this blog post and you will be entered to win a 50% off coupon for any stole on our website excluding the Haiti stole series (because we don't want to take away from the profits that go to this mission). The coupon may be used anytime in the next six month. If you don't need a stole and you win the 50% off coupon you may let us know that you are gifting the certificate to someone that might enjoy it. If you're not a "blogger" emails us at jenny.gallo@CarrotTopStudio.com and we'll make the entry for you.

What's the trivia question? .... Why do we celebrate Christmas in December?

All commenters will be entered to win and one name will be drawn to be the winner.Contest closes at midnight, December 7, EST. Winner will be notified on 12/8/08.

We're Reading...

Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas compliled by Plough Publishing House. It contains a meditation for each day of the Advent season and is easy to pick up and put down as time allows. The complided authors include Bonhoeffer, Eliot, Lewis, and Yancey among many other wise sages.

Senses of the Soul: Art and the Visual in Christian Worship, by William Dyrness is really making me think. It combines historical fact with contemporary research adn observations. It seems like it will be a great springboard for discussion in churches seeking to begin, expand, be more sensitive to including the visual in Christian worship.