This image may seem a little odd. I painted it in 2000 as I was contemplating the many layers of Christmas and how it was celebrated. It depicts myself as a child, looking at the tree with the gifts below. Jesus hangs on the tree. When I was a kid, of course it was all about Santa Claus and getting the goodies even though one of my favorite things to do was also to visit the creche in church and see the baby Jesus. In my adult life as a more mature Christian, I pondered the correlation between the tradition of the giving of gifts as it related to the magi bringing gifts to the Christ child. I don't know where the tradition of the Christmas tree originated, but I was thinking that in a way the tree foreshadowed the crucifixion as Jesus was hung on a cross of wood, the greatest gift of all to mankind.