Day Three Hundred Thirty Eight. December 3. Countdown 28 Days. Picture # 338. "Tradition". There are fifteen different Santa head ornaments in this picture. Each Santa represents a year. Fifteen years ago my friend Sally Rust decided to make Christmas ornaments for a few of her friends. The first year's ornament is on the bottom left. It is the one with the long curly hat. Sally made six ornaments that first year. If she had known where this labor of love was going to take her, she might have reconsidered her idea of continuing this tradition. Fifteen years later each ornament is still painstakingly handcrafted by Sally, The quality and attention to detail have not changed. What has changed is the number of friends that Sally shares her Santas with. She now makes around one hundred twenty ornaments each year. That's a lot of ornaments and a whole lot of friends. I had the good fortune to get on the ornament list a few years ago. Thus Sally's tradition has now become part of mine. Sally plans on working and sharing her Santas for five more years. I already have this year's and am looking forward to five more. In planning this picture, I wanted to try for a Norman Rockwell type quality in the picture. I needed a background that would invoke simpler times and days when many things were still made by hand. I arrived at the Rust's house with no idea what to use for the picture. I needed to not have worried. Sally had her Santas on the butcher block that had come from her father's butcher shop in Pella, Iowa. Perfect ! Can't get anymore traditional than that. If you would like to view each Santa in detail, they are pictured below. Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. f/8. ISO 400. Exposure 1/200 second with pop up flash -2.
Thank you. Thank you for recording a really special part of our family history.
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