It’s time once again to break out the story of the Angel Books.
I first became acquainted with these through my friend Steve R in the early 1990s. Though I’d been a fan of Christmas in my younger years, the luster of the holiday faded for me after my father died. My two biggest Christmas advocates, Lynne and Liz, lived far away from me, as did most of my family. It really took Steve, whose excitement about Christmas never wavered even when he was sickest, and our friend Tim R, who went all out for the holiday with his decorating-passionate mother, to melt the holiday icicles encasing my heart.
Steve had found, at Bookstop, one of these books of angels, based on women in Renaissance paintings, to color. That was a period when I’d developed a passion for Renaissance art, thanks to Houston’s museums and a past-life regression I experienced. The angels intrigued me, so Lynne and I bought a few books and began coloring, painting, and otherwise decorating angels. After Steve died, the tradition continued. Though the books are out of print, one year Marika found several and dispersed angels among some of our friends to color and surprise me. I was thrilled to receive new angels from around the globe, and they’ve joined the many angels that Tim arranges throughout the house each Christmas season.
Thank you to everyone who’s ever colored one of these angels for me. There are still angels left to turn into art if you’re interested in contributing one to this festive band.
Dining room windows.
Living room window.
Double windows in living room.
Angels now spill over to nestle among stones and crystals.
have your nieces, nephews, and greats done angels for you?
The next time we visit, I’ll have to take books with me. Aaron did one when he was a kid but he took it home with him to finish and I never saw it again. I have one from Alex. I sort of have one from Lila.
What I remember about that is how thrilled and excited everyone was to do it.
It’s fun to see them again every year and remember when I received them in the mail. I love them. =)
I remember that I wasn’t happy with angel I did. I wanted to do a pretty pastel angel, but the paper just soaked up the ink from my markers. He should have looked like this http://smilingbagel.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/slam6.jpg
I think the one you did was even better than that one!
If you would be interested in sending an angel for me to take part in your project – I’d be happy to contribute.
I have a few things that I need to send you, anyway…so your angel could fly back to you when I send your surprises.
🙂
Thanks! I’d love to send you one!
As I recall my niece chose the colors for the angel I worked on. (Okay, fine, she colored it too, but I drove her to the post office to mail it!)
Slacker.