Mandalorian Menorah

Happy 8th Night of Hanukkah 

(Somehow I forgot to post this on the actual night)

There were a couple Baby Yoda Christmas themed napkins, so I thought we ought to represent other holidays. 

Max and the Grinch Light it up

Happy first night of Hanukkah:

My kids are not very much fans of the Grinch. He is more my reference point. 

But I feel like we’ve all been a little grinchy lately, so I thought I should not exclude the green guy from the Festival of Lights.

And pyromania is really the driving force behind my kids’ interest in the menorah, so a little unsafe fire handling seemed appropriate as well. 

And Max the dog was always a highlight, but one didn’t get the sense that he would stand in the way of setting something inappropriate on fire.

Holiday Kids with Rudolph Menorah

We usually take a picture of the kids for a holiday card. This year, they were feeling uncooperative and I was feeling uninspired, so I drew this very Thomas Kinkade style mess instead.

Yes, there is nothing worse than a saccharine portrait of children drawn by their parent.

...except perhaps adding a reindeer with a bike light strapped to his nose to that portrait.

My apologies to those who celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas... and to Thomas Kinkade enthusiasts also.

Darth Menorah

It's hard to stay on the Dark Side when your head is on fire.

Last night was only the first night of Hanukkah, but any drawing of a menorah seems to require a full complement of candles.  While I was considering sticking 8 candles on the top of Vader's shiny helmet, the kids convinced me that Darth Maul was the better choice. Fortuitously, Maul has exactly 8 horns visible from the front view.

I guess he must be holding the shamus in his hand since it doesn't fit on his head.

Birthday Moose

What occasion could not be improved by a drawing on a napkin?

A woman who has been a close friend of mine since high school had a birthday today.  What could I give to a dear friend of over thirty years who just happened to be in town on her birthday?

I was slightly concerned she might be offended by the Mooseman.  She collected Moose related paraphenalia and tchotkes three decades ago, but I was pretty sure not so much in the present.  We are still consistently and warmly in touch, but I was slightly dismayed to find that I was having trouble coming up with a napkin image that might be less than 30 years out of date. But, after scrolling through years of her facebook feed and scraping around in the dusty corners of my prematurely senile mind, I could not do any better than something Moose related.

She took my callback to her childhood collection with good grace, and pointed out that he would double nicely as a Menorah.

(The number of candles only relates to the number of protruberances on the Moose antlers. We are both way past the age where an accurate number of candles should be lit on our birthday.)

From Halloween to Christmas

Ansel's napkins from the fall holiday season, more or less.
Certain themes stand out: Rocket Raccoon and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Sea Otters, Ewoks and Star Wars.

Holiday Season Sea Otters

Bi-denomenational Sea Otters acknowledge the holidays.

Yesterday was Ocean Animal report presentation day in Second Grade.
Afterward, Ansel officially informed me that now there should be no more napkin drawings of Sea Otters.

I am an occasional adjunct faculty member at the New York Academy, and am in the midst of end of semester thesis critiques this week.  While I am a sculptor, I've spent the majority of my waking hours over the last two days looking at, and attempting to talk about, paintings. Last night Ansel asked if any students were painting Sea Otters, and told me that I should definitely bring home a picture for him if there were any such paintings.

I debated whether I should be offended that he didn't want me to draw any more Otters, but was so keen to see other peoples images. Of course, I say that facetiously, as ever bothering to be offended by my kids would lead to constant tribulation and idiocy.

But I did draw some more Sea Otters last night, mostly just to be perverse.
Ansel seemed pleased enough with them this morning, but I can observe that while my 2D skills have improved over the years, I will not be getting an MFA in painting...or napkin drawing, any time soon.

Below is one of my son's nice drawings from his report.

Minions Menorah for Hanukkah

Kevin and Dave set their heads on fire:

We are an equal opportunity household when it comes to observing holidays which might involve gifts for children. Which is to say, we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah.

I spent a substantial portion of my childhood under the impression that the world, or at least the environment I lived in, was half Jewish and half "not Jewish." I discovered later that not only was my immediate family not representative of the world at large, but that the wrong half of my heritage was Jewish for me to claim legitimate membership with the Jews or the "nots." I am, however, in charge of saying the Hanukkah blessing in English and Hebrew when we light candles in front of our 3/4 Jewish, but yet, not at all Jewish, sons.

But why shouldn't the infinitely costumable and merchandisable Minions have it both ways?

As far as my sons are concerned the Minions might be the chosen people anyway.

The Menorah Turkey Says Happy Thanksgivukkah

Happy Thanksgivukkah from the menorah turkey. This one did not go to school today as everyone is at home languishing with the flu...perhaps he can take it in the year 79,811 when the two holidays coincide again.

Hanukkah Reindeer

Ansel was none too charmed by my attempt at interdenomenational  holiday cheer.  This one has not gone to school yet... and there are only 3 more days of Hanukkah.  I originally envisioned some sort of Rabbi Santa, but Ansel mounted a protest, so I reduced the sleigh cargo to a bag of loot.  Unfortunately, mostly what the holiday is about for the kids anyway....