In mid-December I spent some time at my sister's home in California where she's collected our family's most well-worn antique ornaments, along with other well-loved ornaments rescued from thrift shops, and used them to decorate a special tree. The sight of this tree really took me back to thoughts of our childhood, particularly the influence of my Grandmother Dorothy and her love of all things victorian and decorative.
Dorothy's presents were always designed to be admired over the long days before we were allowed to open them... and then, we almost hated to ruin the effect by tearing them apart. Even when we were very young, these gifts were always opened with awe and reverence! She used parts of old cards, ribbons, sequins, doilies, and gilded gold trimmings to create special decorative scenes for the fronts of packages, her own gift tags, and 
holiday cards. Some portions of her decorations still reside in my Christmas wrapping box and are recycled each year onto special packages. In my studio I have a box of her "ingredients." Looking back now, I can see that she used the elements of collage in all of her decorative endeavors and I am even more grateful for her influences on my life, artistic and otherwise. And somehow I also love to wrap packages! Photo below is of "Dottie's" ephemera collection. I'm honored to have it... It's so nostalgic to rummage through.
