Christmas is in the Air!
Family and friends can always expect two things from me at Christmas: a book and/or a seashell Christmas ornament. This year my story "The Traveling Ornament" made it into the book by Grace Publishing titled The Greatest Gift. I'm always grateful to be part of this project because all royalties go to Samaritan's Purse. After 38 movies in 51 years, it's amazing that the original ornament given to us by Mark's sister after our wedding is still with us. It's traveled quite a few miles and it was a little prophetic in nature! You can order the book on Amazon.
All year I collect seashell treasures to make gifts for Christmas. Sand dollars are my favorite, but this year I ventured into new territory with oyster shells and trinket dishes with resin and tiny shells. After the two hurricanes we experienced two years ago (Helene and Milton), the landscape has changed in the area where we collected seashells and sand dollars. We now have to wait until low tide, climb up on the sandbar, and go sand dollar hunting. As you can imagine, it's a little more complicated than finding them on the beach. Before the hurricanes descended upon us, it wasn't unusual to find a hundred sand dollars in an hour. Those days are gone!
We almost got through this season without a hurricane, breaking a 120-year record, but Isaias had other plans and made landfall on October 9, 2026 near Destin, Florida -- north of us. We're grateful because we're still recovering from damage two years ago, but thankful that it stirred up the waters enough that we found a treasure trove of shells we've never found before, including my first ever Florida Crown Conch. And for some reason, it stirred up all the sea urchins and deposited them on Whitney Beach. There were hundreds of them. They drifted in on a bed of seagrass, so they were protected from the rough seas and were perfect. They have to be dead to pick them up, so I had to do the shake test to make sure. I love tiny sea urchins; they're great for collage making. Writing is taking a backseat these days as I complete some seashell projects, but I plan to continue working onWaves of Grace through Christmas as time allows.
Until next time . . .
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