If you have a Christmas tree, does it have a random ornament? My tree does. I’m not sure when I got it—perhaps when I was married. I’m not sure exactly where I got it, either, although something tells me it was somewhere in the Pentagon City Mall. Years ago there used to be a shop called The Christmas Store there, so maybe I got it there. It was Christmas year round in that store, although they did sell ornaments commemorating other holidays. Or perhaps I got it at The Nature Company, which was later converted into a Discovery Channel Store, which later closed. It may have been part of a series of ornaments that fit a Nativity scene, but knowing me, I would have gotten any accompanying sheep, too, although nothing else having to do with the Nativity because that’s just never been my thing. So I really can’t tell you why I have this, only that I’m glad I do because it’s just so random in a tree filled with birds, Snoopy, snowmen, angels, and traditional round ornaments, and I like random things.

So here it is: Two dromedaries.

Also, I don’t think I posted this anywhere last year but it has been sitting on my phone since December 12, 2022, so I’ll post it now. The image is from a Jade Summer coloring book called Intricate Patterns and I colored it using Tombow brush pens.

It took me something like eight hours spread out over three days, as it was the first time I used those brush pens–which also explains what a hot mess it is because Tombow brush pens are kind of big and I had no idea what I was doing or how to use them. I’m not an artist by a long shot.

In fact, I never expected them to be what they are. I had been using a set of no-name dual-tip brush/fine-point markers that I picked up at Barnes & Nobles in 2017 with a gift card from a former boss. I was new to using anything other than Prismacolor pencils and enjoyed using the no-name brand brush markers, which are about the size of a ball-point pen but thinner and more delicate, so when I saw the Tombow set of 96 on sale for half-off on Amazon, I grabbed it, thinking they might be similar. Well, they are a just a wee little bit bigger than the no-name brand. Just a tiny bit. Just a smidge.

In fact, they’re 7.5 inches, which means no man will ever be able to lie to me about that.

And on that tacky note, I will now post the penultimate entry for this year’s Holidailies, heh.