Christmas at the Martins. My sister-in-law Lisa and her husband Dave were kind enough to host Christmas at their house this year. Ridley was the recipient of many, many presents. Thanks to everyone for their generosity. Amidst the mounds of toys and torn wrapping paper, some Banana Chocolate Fudge Birthday Cake was consumed. Well, actually, it was mostly rubbed into the carpet, clothing, and furniture, but I believe some of the cake was eaten. Ridley expresses thanks to his gourmand Dad for supplying the cake. Aunt Lisa supplied the ice cream.


From left-to-right we have Lauri, Richard's step-sister, Himself, Grandma Pearl, and Ridley's cousin Ethan.

The official photo of Ridley's 2005 Christmas. As it has been pointed out to me innumerable times by those whom I would describe (with utmost respect & humour) as sticklers for details, this is, in fact, Ridley's second Christmas. He was born on December 25th in 2004. It is, however, truly & undeniably Ridley's first birthday. I was merely attracted to the symmetry of "first Christmas-first birthday". Now get over it.

There's a curious legacy of Christmas Babies in the Linton family. This phenomena began with the birth of my cousin Sorena. I followed exactly three years later on Christmas of 1968. Then, 36 years (gulp) later and -- voila! -- Ridley Linton-Martin is born! What are the odds?! Beats me. Mathematics and I haven't been on speaking-terms for several years.

Advantages of Being a Christmas Baby:

1. Novelty factor. Having your birthday on a major holiday sets you apart from all those boring, mundane, ho-hum birthdays. My parents always placed a positive spin on my Christmas birthday, telling me how "special" I was to have my birthday on such an auspicious date.

2. It is most likely that you will find yourself in a gathering a people on your birthday. These people may be largely composed of your family, but it can't be all that bad, can it? (Note to family members: kidding).

3. There will likely be a whole bunch of food lying around, much of which you neither bought nor made. Bonus.

4. You have the option of celebrating an "unbirthday" on whatever date you prefer. Mine has always been September 2nd, as this was my maternal grandmother's birthday.

Disadvantages of Being a Christmas Baby:

1. You've never had your locker decorated at school.

2. There is the potential of getting jipped on your presents. Be vigilant and make sure this never happens.

Christmas at the Linton family household happened on December 18th this year. In our mad rush to get out the door with baby, parcels and ourselves, we managed to forget our camera. Oops. Many thanks to my niece Catriona for documenting the event for us.

Pictured on the left is my nephew Conor holding Ridley. In the group shot below we have (from left-to-right) my niece Catriona, nephew Conor, my Mom (the Linton Matriarch, if you will), and Conor's wife Maggie.

Next, we have (from left to right, beginning in the back row) my Mom, Dad, sister-in-law Nuala, sister-in-law Linda, (middle row) Amy's husband Fernando (what relation does that make him to me? My nephew-in-law?), my niece Amy, (front row) my niece Courtney, Amy's son Noah, and my brother David. Whew!



Lastly, we have myself and Richard and our progeny. This is one of those "just looked up and someone snapped my picture" photos. Good thing that at least Ridley appears to be photogenic.

SPAM: the most obtrusive, vulgar and abominable reality of our modern times. No matter how many filters I create in my e-mail application, the stuff still sullies my inbox.

And yet, today I received a spam e-mail that I would classify as almost poetic. I don't quite understand the reason that anyone would send out this e-mail. There's no suspect gif file or other attachment waiting to wreck havoc on my computer. The body of the e-mail simply read:

"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.
A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith."

How obscure, yet kinda thought-provoking.

Children can inspire us in many different ways. As an artist, Ridley has inspired me to create art that addresses my feelings towards him, as well as to motherhood in general. It's not always pretty -- life never is -- but it's as honest as I'm willing to be on paper.

The first image that featured Himself was an etching entitled "Ridley's first vision of his ancestral mothers". The title says it all. If you're not already familiar with my work, then let me offer this one crucial fact: the reality that my work conveys is one that's filtered through layers of mythology, art history, fantasy and the odd alcohol-induced stupor. I do not strive to reflect the real world, but to improve upon it as I see fit.

In "Ridley's first vision..." I'm thinking of all those myths of the Divine Child. Jesus wasn't the first, by the way. It's an ancient story that exists in the legends of many disparate cultures.

Further to this myth of the Divine Child is the second work I created featuring Ridley: "Year of the Monkey (Ridley's birthmark)." Yes, Ridley was born in the Chinese Year of Monkey (as was I). Not that he's Chinese, of course (neither am I), but I'm not politically-correct enough to hesitate borrowing the stories of someone else's culture. I'm not Greek or Roman, either. Heck, I'm not even Catholic (see my web site to understand these references).

Ridley has this interesting birthmark on his lower back/upper hip area, commonly referred to as a "strawberry mark". I imagined that, instead of a shapeless blob, this birthmark actually resembled a monkey. Not just any monkey, but Sun Wu-k'ung the Monkey King. Again, this idea harkens back to the whole Divine Child, "behold, he bears the mark" kinda fantasy-based stuff. Hey, just setting my kid up to have a massive Christ Complex later in life.