On Cue...

Just as the weather turned to 56 degrees yesterday and I started dreaming about the holidays as a child in the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania, wondering what happened to the snowy winters of my youth- a new wind blew and this evening the view outside my window looks like this. The first "real" snow of the season. Sure, the ski local resort has been blowing snow for almost a month now~ but this fell from the sky, right on cue.

Luckily, last weekend, I decided that the tree must go up and the lights must go on; inside and out. We spend a lot of time traveling during the holidays- here again gone, I suppose you would say. When it comes to decorating for the holidays, I am usually first one up last one down, but this year I felt like a member of the Krank family. I was gonna skip it. (yeah right) How does one actually do that? I failed the Krank test - miserably. Skip the holidays? No matter what holiday you celebrate- it is infectious. Like the whole world warms up a bit; is a bit shinier; a bit more tolerable. Now, it's not that I don't like people. I just don't like the way they treat each other on a daily basis. But during the holidays, people feel compelled to be nice, to be friendly, to be human. To look out for fellow man. To take care of one another. And even if it may be contrived and may only be for this short period of time - I'll take it. That is one of my favorite things about the holidays~ People actually being nice to people. And to have SNOW. Well, that is the icing on the cake, now isn't it. No matter what, I am the first one out in the snow. Trogging around in the freshness of it all, with my head up and my tongue out- catching snow flakes acting like a great big GOOBER. The best is during a big flake snow, and everything is quiet. The only sounds you hear are the sounds of your own breath and the flakes as they fall. Your whole world is muffled. The noise and shuffle of the town, cars going by. Everything is quiet, everything is peaceful. And if you are very lucky, at that precise moment, a train will pass through the valley below and blow its whistle. And life is good. (of course you have to like trains!)



UP the hill, above the house, is the studio, all decked out with lights. This is the first winter with the studio completed. And as I uploaded these pictures this evening... Could someone tell me who or what is in the window??? Seriously. There is nothing but pink and tangerine goodness going on up there in the windows - nothing else- just empty window space - and yet - I know I have been accused of being odd- alright, crazy.... but - OK - why does it look like something with ears is giggling in that window on the right??!! You see it, right... don't you?


Stanly gets his own tree. Stanly is my house "pet". He was here when I bought the house- He was the first thing that I noticed in the first photo I ever saw of my future home- and after the closing, I came HOME to find him sitting on a stump outside the back door. I am not sure whether the prior owner left him behind or if he just jumped out of the truck because he wanted to stay- either way - I love him. He is my attack rooster with personality. (think I'm kidding - get to close to him, I dare you. hee hee) He used to sit next to the Gargoyles, but sometime last summer, he mysteriously relocated himself to the other side of the house - and here he stays, next to his tree.

SO the craziness of the holiday season is officially upon us - and after the new year - there will be new, interesting things coming from the studio. After several requests, I have started painting again, that in itself is a big step for me. The "naked" creatures running around my house and studio should all have their clothes on .

These are part of a new series I am putting together for a local shop in town. I love experimenting with new styles and to see where they take me. While this is not my usual style, it definitely is fun!
I have decided to close the Studio and The Giggling Goblin shop on Etsy for the holidays so that I can spend some time with the family and re-group for the new year. 2009 will bring many changes to the studio, all of which I am very EXCITED about. A series of new art dolls, new paintings, new shops and galleries that will be selling my work, and new publications! Exciting things and HUGE life changes going on here at the Noll, with a few surprises along the way. Change is a good thing. Scary sometimes. But definitely never dull. Life is a possibility. And this New Year holds many breath taking possibilities.

My wish is for all of you to have a happy, healthy & FUN filled holiday. Whether you celebrate the coming of the New Year with family, friends or if you will be toasting yourself this New Year - may you celebrate life, love and creativity.



From the Studio at Wadsworth-Noll to you and yours;
Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!