Dixie Delights

As y’all know, my boys just traded in their shared room for their own rooms a few months ago. *sniff sniff* I repeat a lot of the same Christmas decor year after year, but was left with almost a blank slate in both of their rooms this year!!

I proposed hanging a limited edition Old Try Yeti print (from Honey’s 40th birthday … usually hangs in the basement) over Whit’s bed and got his signature “grunt” of disapproval and then a “that’s too scary”. (You might remember that he also recently had to get rid of his adorable crab painting for the same reason.)

So, I had a genius idea that turned into a much sweeter thing than I ever intended. Here’s how it went down.

“Whit, I have a great idea. Why don’t you pick one of the reindeer off of your new sheets and I will paint it to hang over your bed.”

“That sounds good. BUT…. I am going to paint it, not you.” (said in his always matter-of-fact and completely grown up manner that leaves no room for debate)

HAHAHAHA! This is just one example of how different my kids are. When I told Honey that I was going to hang Whit’s discarded crab over John’s bed in his “tween” room, Honey said no way he will want that. I bet him $1 and then asked John, who with absolute zero interest said, “whatever you think will look good”. LOL. I try to paint a reindeer for Whit and he’s like, NO you will not do that.

And so, when Whit was out of school for two days with a sprained ankle, I borrowed the neighbor’s wheelchair (no joke) and off we went to Michael’s. I purchased a giant canvas in the Veteran’s Day sale for $14. We already have a whole basket of paint at home so that was all we needed.

Whit deigned to let me paint the canvas a solid blue of his choice. Then he let me outline the reindeer on the canvas in pencil. And from there, he took charge of the entire process.

He was SO proud of his work and, I have to say, I will treasure this forever! He used one of the reindeer on his sheet set that was wearing a scarf as his go-by (when this was my project I was going to use one wearing a red collar but his is so much cuter). He loved going through all of my paint brushes and colors and sponges to pick what he wanted to use on his art piece.

There’s no doubt that he drifts off to sweet Christmas dreams these days..

And, while he may not have a red nose, he is the most famous reindeer of all in my book. I can say with certainty, that this will always have a place in my Christmas home!