Hump Day Happy–Band of Angels Edition

Once upon a time–namely in December 2008 and November 2006–I talked about the tradition of the Christmas angels at The Compound. This year, the angels were put up by Tim, as usual, like so:

There were angels in the dining room:

Angels in the living room:

More angels in the living room:

Angels in Tim’s arms:

Wait; those are ears, not wings. Sorry, Puddles.

So many angels that it makes you ponder: How many angels can dance over the windows in The Compound? The answer is: MORE. Because there’s another angel named Marika who liked my story of the angels so much that she ordered some of the hard-to-find angel books. Then, in a gesture of the true spirit of Christmas, she sent the angels out far and wide to be adorned by friends…FOR ME!

Yesterday, these angels winged their way to Houston:

And from the back:

I couldn’t be happier that beautiful new angels from Lisa, David, Jeffrey P, Jeffrey R, Michael, Steve, Rob, Gary, and Chris will join all the angels from years past and become a part of all my Christmases future. You are all thoughtful and generous and so kind to share your energy and your COLORING SKILLS (amazing!) during this busy season. I’m so happy to know you all and can’t thank you enough.

One time when Greg and I were talking, I said that it’s a rare person who gives without expecting anything in return. And Greg said, “Marika does.” It’s true. Marika was so focused on making sure I got everyone’s angels before Christmas–both as a surprise for me and so that all their makers wouldn’t be disappointed–that she forgot to put the angel she colored in the package! It’s okay, Marika, the angel tin is never packed away with the rest of the holiday stuff. It stays available all year, so any new angel will always find a home there, whenever she arrives.

Also thanks to Marika, I now have several of the out-of-print books that feature these angels. So if anyone else ever wants to color one to join The Compound Band of Angels, e-mail me your address. Your work of art, like all of these, will always be as cherished as your friendship.

In the meantime, these nine angels stand ready to find something in the happy books for you, if you just provide a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25.


Happy Christmas!

40 thoughts on “Hump Day Happy–Band of Angels Edition”

  1. Wow!! I love all the angels and would like to add one to your collection (M McLeod 6/8 Queens Pde West Newport NSW 2106 Australia).

    Could I have no 601, 10 please!

    1. Absolutely–and thank you! For you, the angels have found “visiting the playgrounds that hold special meaning.” (I’m betting this includes a “playground” on the Gulf Coast!)

  2. I’m glad you got your angels! I have a confession to make. Marika asked me to color one for you for Christmas, which I said yes to because I thought it was a nice thing to do for my southern belle. However, I have red-green colorblindness, so I was worried how it’d come out. However, what I do have is a mom who isn’t colorblind and who likes to color, so I asked her to do it for me. Being the sweetheart that she is, instead of strangling me, she sat down and did it over the space of a couple of nights, fretting whether it looked nice enough.

    1. True confessions aren’t usually this sweet. Thank you AND your mother. The angel is more than “nice enough.” She’s beautiful, and now she’s doubly special.

      1. You’re welcome! It’ll make my mom’s day when I tell her how you feel about the angel she colored.

        Here’s another funny story about my mom. Back in 1993/94, I was asked to bake cookies for the foreign languages honor society by another student. I had absolutely no clue how to do it because I had never baked anything before. So when I got home I told my mom, “You have to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies for a bake sale at college.” Again I expected her to strangle me for springing this on her, especially since she was still working at that time. Instead her reaction was a thoughtful, “Well, I don’t know if I have chocolate chips . . .” My terrific mom baked them and they sold out very quickly, which made my mom happy. My mom doubts her baking skills, but I’ve told her a bunch of times she’s good at baking.

  3. My seven year old niece Morgan helped me with my angel. Almost immediately we had a difference of opinion over which colors to choose for the angel’s dress, which resulted in me storming off in tears and Morgan yelling “Drama Queen!” After sitting down with a veteran mediator, though (Nanny, holding two bowls of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream) we were able to reach a compromise, and the project – and Christmas! – was saved.

    Page 12, # 24 please!

    1. David, you had the whole book – why didn’t you just color two? Morgan is so right.

      It was nothing on my part – everyone was so enthusiastic to do it. I wish I would have thought of it sooner, because there were a lot more people I wanted to pass it on too …

      My happiness is that they got there

      Dash will take number 16 on page 125

      1. Hello, you organized the whole project and made it happen. Don’t be so modest. It was a beautiful thing. =) And the angels give Dash “mustache wax.”

        (Oh, he’s just turned into a real villain now that he murdered Santa’s reindeer. Next he’ll be evicting little old collies from their apartments and tying pretty young poodles to the railroad tracks. The Rhonda will have a whole new respect for him.)

    2. One of the best Christmas stories yet–I think you and Morgan should do this every Christmas–make it a tearful family tradition that can always end in ice cream!

      I love your angel. Thank you. And for you, the angels have “steaks with A-1 sauce and salt.”

  4. I’m so glad you got them by CHristmas, Becky! Even after a long miserable night at the store, this post has e grinning from ear to ear. And I second everything you said about Marika!!

    I suppose I will have page 30, #8, in honor of the day I met Marika in person for the first time…August 30, 2007.

    1. Thank you so much for doing an angel, Gary. She’s very beautiful, as are they all. She and her fellow angels give you “chocolate pound cake.”

  5. I can’t believe I didn’t see this post yesterday…. I barely remember which one I did. And, like Rhonda, reading this was enough “happy” for me. BTW, I got your card and gift today! Thank you so very much.

      1. I can’t believe I didn’t see these before now. Oh, wait, yes I can. 🙂 They turned out just beautifully. Michael originally said, “But I can’t color.” I think he did pretty well.

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