Today's post is from guest blogger Thomas Kinkade, painter of light, and the creator, with Teleflora, of the Thomas Kinkade Sleigh Ride Bouquet, one of our gorgeous Christmas flower arrangements.
What is Christmas like in the Golden State? For one, many people don’t realize that it snows in California, but it’s primarily a special occasion. I grew up in the foothills of Northern California in Placerville, and we experienced a light dusting of snow from time to time. During those rare winter days, we’d run into the snow at every opportunity we had--to throw snowballs and jump into the little bit of snow that was still left on the ground. We’d make snowmen, but they’d quickly melt and shrink in the California sun.
In the film “Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage” viewers can see a snapshot of Christmas in Placerville (see above). The movie illustrates a lot about my family life and my early Christmas memories depicted on the screen for all to see. In fact, last year’s Teleflora Christmas bouquet was inspired by both the Christmas Cottage painting and the film. The movie is currently available on DVD and will be appearing on Lifetime Channel several times during the holiday season.
Family is the most important thing in our lives - and during Christmas it’s magnified many times over. Sharing their love, concerns and dreams makes it a holiday like no other. And Christmas flowers always make the holiday season even better!
Every Christmas is special and memorable for many unique reasons. Nanette fondly recalls our first Christmas together as a married couple in our book, “The Many Lives of Christmas.” Nanette writes about one of the best Christmas gifts I ever gave her.
“Beyond all of those things, this was the year Thomas gave me one of the best Christmas presents I have ever received in my life. It was an impressionist painting of the two of us, walking hand in hand in the moonlight. To this day, it occupies an honored place on our bedroom wall.”
Christmas is a wonderful occasion revolving around the most important thing in the world--family. Every holiday season, we spend time with our family: parents, brothers, sisters and the entire crowd. But our moments with our immediate family are always the most coveted time. Now that our two oldest daughters, Merritt and Chandler are in college, it’s so great when they come home for the holidays! Of course, we decorate the house with holiday flowers and Christmas centerpieces every holiday season.
Mom lives close by and always treasures the hand sketches and special small paintings that I present to her whenever I can and especially during the holidays. When I was a little boy, I’d paint images on the walls in our house growing up in Placerville, but she never scolded me – maybe because I always signed my wall drawings with “I love you Mom”!
Every holiday season I always try to give my mother a hand drawn sketch or a special Christmas print. And I don’t paint on the walls anymore, which she appreciates!
