The Amazing Artist

Lee recently turned 9. For at least the past five years he's produced hundreds of drawings on white computer paper. He's entered his artwork in the Salt Fork Arts & Crafts Festival Student Art Show the past two summers. He's won awards. He's received O's (outstanding marks) in art class at school.

Lee's creativity amazes me. His father, the Old Man, is artistically inclined and still has many drawings from his youth. I am not.

Our oldest son, Christian, 12, was as interested in art as Lee at a young age but sadly he rarely picks up a pencil anymore. Middle son, Will, 11, also likes to draw and exhibits talent but he tends to navigate toward using only wide ruled notebook paper which annoys me to no end.

Lee's artistic ability has surpassed any expectation I ever had for him. I think he's a genius. His imagination is wild. He surprises me every day. And yesterday was another gift.

First we took his Letter to Santa to the post office to mail it.

Then we went to Big Lots to get some big boxes of cereal at big savings and there he asked to buy a cheap set of T-shirt markers - 10 colors for $2. I rarely turn down a request by him to buy art supplies. At the store I told him he could use an old white T-shirt from his pajama drawer on which to draw.

We arrived home and within a half hour he had created a most amazing holiday shirt with a theme of lava and volcanoes.

"don't think about lava

think about Christmas"

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MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!