We found Santa’s Workshop!! In North Pole, Alaska there is a magical place that houses a magical man, his wife, and their elves. He wasn’t there when we went in March of course. I am assuming he and his wife were on vacation in a much warmer climate, maybe Hawaii! His elves were also not a sight to be seen, but people were representing them as Santa’s helpers in his little shop. We walked around and looked at all the handmade toys and gifts available for purchase and I bought these cute little Eskimo salt and pepper shakers for my table at home. They had a magnet in their head so their heads would touch and noses met in an Eskimo kiss. I say had because my beautiful dog broke them recently. He wanted to see what was on the table and they were atop a tile floor. The woman was shattered but the man and dog still remain in tact. I am mentioning this in the blog because it was an impactful memory for me, an accident by my dog, and a lesson in time about what is truly important. I am glad to have my memories of Santa’s workshop and his house since the memento is gone.
After our purchases we continued to walk around, and then, we found his chair!! It was huge, so Santa must be a giant in real life. I do not know where our pictures are from that moment but the memory lives on inside my head with happiness. We sat, we wished, and our wishes came true. We all wanted to see the lights for my cousin’s birthday. We were on our way to stay at a cabin in the woods with a field right behind it where the lights were said to appear. They did!! On the very night of her birthday, we were sitting in chairs we brought, in the middle of the field, and they danced across the sky. This time they were green, yellow, and purple!! This is her favorite color, purple, so you can imagine our excitement. (The purple is not pictured here for your eyes ti see unfortunately.) Another wonderful thing that happened was that they were dancing in the beat of happy birthday. Aroush and I started singing happy birthday to her right then and there and the lights put on a show. That moment was super special to us because our grandmother always sang to us on our birthdays no matter where we were and we both felt she was with us. Do any of you have a memory like this that lives in infamy?
After leaving the lights, due to a huge drop on temperature, we proceeded back to the warm cabin. Before we entered we looked at one another and our eyebrows had frost on them. Aroush had frosty snow on his face and he looked like Santa himself. We took off all our snow gear after walking through shoulder deep snow to the cabin’s door. When we were finally inside, we got to sit, relax, and enjoy the amenities. The cabin felt like a warm blanket hugging us. I love this similar, I may have used it in a previous blog. It just makes me feel cozy every time I read it. We made hot chocolates and lit a fire and stared outside at the snow while talking about our Alaska trip as a whole. All three of us remember that time in our lives fondly and still talk, or in this case write, about it. We loved it and our time together. Hoping you all have someone to travel with that lights your imagination up, makes you feel safe, and that they are just lovely to be around. I am grateful for the two people I chose to travel to the wilderness with. Hoping everyone in Alaska, and the lower 48, also including everyone reading in the world…has a happy weekend filled with wonder! If you celebrate Christmas, there are 17 more days until the big day and I still have ornaments available! They make nice small gifts or stocking stuffers. Thank you for reading and supporting my art journey!
-Karen Hilliard
Also, if you would like to show support, I recently joined “buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested and I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content!
Thank you again for all of your support!
