A gift from Laura...

at Passione Ricamo.

I've always loved this sentiment. It reminds me that even if we can't all be physically together, it doesn't mean we aren't thinking of each other and sending our love. This is a delightful chart and I can't wait to get it started for next year. Even though it has - sigh - letters, I'm thinking I may do several to give as gifts.

Laura is incredibly generous with her gift charts. It reminds me once again how important it is to honor the talent of those who have talent. My own sons are musicians (one's a composer) and my husband used to do some computer program design. The world of creativity is, sadly, at risk because it is so easy to steal talent from the internet. One of my students said this year, "Why would Windows put a music burner in their media program if you weren't meant to copy music?" Sadly, that's a viewpoint that is becoming more and more prevalent. If I CAN take it that must mean it's mine to take.

I guess I need to rant. If artists are generous enough to give a gift as Laura has, the best we can do is to support their work by purchasing what they do sell. And if they don't sell something we can use, the least we can do is honor their generosity by not stealing the design and trying to sell it as our own.

End of lecture.