“Sitting through a half hour of church service on Christmas Eve.”
This was one of the most anxious yet exciting times for me during Christmas. Although I couldn’t wait for that last bit of service when we’d all light candles and sing “Silent Night”, it all formed an endearing memory for me. Going to the church was all part of the tradition, whether the excitement of pending holiday festivities made me squirm in my seat or not. I liked going to the Methodist church in our neighborhood. It was within walking distance (but not when it was snowing). Also the parking lot, when it was empty, made for an excellent place to bike ride or take a ride in the metal Radio Flyer wagon we had. Also liked hearing the church bells.
So anyway, about the drawing. The first stained glass window design was supposed to be a spiritual figure, but it turned out too blobbish. So I just made the window into a mosaic stained glass.
While filling in most of those shapes with color, I realized why I got those colored pens so cheap – because most of them don’t work. So I went to Walmart and bought a nice set of 72…that’s right, 72 colored pencils! Not a bad little price, either! Then I bought two little pencil sharpeners; one green, the other blue. I’ll take the green sharpener to work with me since it’ll coordinate with my green stapler. The blue one will coordinate with my blue stapler at homebase. Got that? All for the sake of art.
Eclectic Spaghetti 
I can relate to this. It was all that formality before you could really celebrate Christmas. I often wondered why they couldn’t just shorten the mass to 5 minutes for this day only.
My family weren’t church goers, so I missed out on this particular anxiety.
You are so cute. I think it’s great that you’re doing this some more.
Your dedication to and passion for the arts show in your creations! The colored pencils were a good investment and brilliant choice. Luv the stained glass windows!
I remember being excited about getting home after church to open presents! Our services were too long! It started at 10pm Xmas Eve and didn’t let out til almost 1 am! There were times when I felt like saying, ‘Hey, let’s cut out the sermon because it’s basically a repeat reading of the Xmas pageant we just put on. So unless you’re doing some deleted bonus scenes from the Nativity, I’d say let’s close shop and head on home to the presents waiting for us!’ .
I can never sleep on Christmas Eve. It’s all just too exciting!
I have always hated church and that was the worst torture of all….sitting through an hour or hour and a half of boring singing….
great cartoons.. I really like this series.. Love the clour in the windows.. I rememebr doing thae same thing on Christmas Eve as a kid..
BTW you have been tagged..
AlienCG: I guess they wanted us to pause and appreciate the meaning of Christmas rather than focus on the material stuff. But sheesh. Warn a kid if it’s gonna be that long.
Laura B.: I’m not much of a church goer now either, except when going to choir. Sometimes I think of going to the services for Christmas to bring back that nostalgic anxiety.
Churlita: Thank you! I’m enjoying it!
Eroswings: I am very happy with my colored pencils. And thank you about the stained glass! You can’t draw a church without stained glass windows. Also…yikes about the service lasting till 1am! And I thought our services were long!
T-Bird: I can barely sleep. It turns into one long night. And yet I’m still compelled to get up early even if I haven’t had any sleep.
Evil-e: I never minded the singing, especially if it was a song I recognized.
Babybull: Thank you! And thanks for the tag!
HAHA! I like the “holy ghost” window in the middle. : )
Little sighing tara is adorable. when was church EVER just 30 minutes long? I wish! We never received gifts in close proximity to a service so I can’t say I have experienced this exact thing, but there was a man who passed out candy to all the kids who asked him after church, and I remember many a sunday morning plotting in my head how i was going to make a bee-line to him and get my favorite kind of candy before all the other kids could.