t h e h e a r t f e lt C h r is t m a s
filling, a task that takes two garden
hoses two days to complete. Then
they wait as the water solidifies—and
so does the neighborhood.
The rink is open to anyone in the
neighborhood who wants to use it.
They don’t have to ask permission, and
they’re welcome to dig into the box of
skates for a pair that fits. Dan’s only
requirement is that kids wear a helmet.
“It really brings the neighborhood
together,” he says. “If you want to
enjoy something, the best wayto do
that is to share it with others.”
There’s only onetime Dan, Jennie,
Sam, and Clay don’t share the rink.
And that’s early on Christmas Day.
For an hour or two before they open
it back up to all, the four of them get
bundled in warm clothes, lace on
some blades, and go out for a
family-only glide around the rink. As
Dan watches his rapidly growing
boys, the amount of work that goes
into building and maintainingthe rink
becomes unimportant. “You just
hope you’re building a legacy,” he
says. “It’s a memory I hope they’ll
have forthe rest of their lives.”
Gilts made by hand
become heirlooms to a
San Francisco family
When Louise Nayerand her co-author,
Virginia E. Lang, wrote
How to Bury a Goldfish,
they weren’t only writing about the
ceremonies of others—they were also
recordingtheir own traditions. One of those
came from a practice Louise and her family
began over
2 0
years ago. They called it their
Heartfelt Christmas because, as Louise says,
“it felt like the gift came from the heart rather
than from a sense of pressure to buy
something.” That meant usingtheir innate
talents and the skills they had developed to
make one-of-a-kind gifts by hand and tailor
each of them to the recipient.
“We still proudly display many of these
gifts,” she says. “They’re not the kind of things
that end up in a drawer”
Sometimes Louise wrote poems as gifts.
Once, her husband, Jim, sculpted ornaments
for everyone. Her daughters crafted
necklaces and earrings fortheir mother and
each other.
Fifteen Christmases ago, her daughter,
Sarah, cut the word “LOVE” out of thick
cardboard and then painted it. In the center of
the “O” she placed a picture of herself.
Although, to an outsider, it is agiftthat
appears to be of the utmost simplicity, the
emotion attached to it makes it one of
Louise’s most precious possessions.
“I would be so upset ifthat were ever lost,”
she says. “It’s so much more important to me
than so many otherthings.”
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS DECEMBER 2009
237
