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Jane's Illness: What Did Community & Church Offer?

Image: Unsplash   This is the sixth post in this series about Jane Darragh Cassidy's illness. Catch up with the first five posts here:   Maria Jane Darragh's Illness: Researching Acute Mania in 19th Century Ontario Next Steps in Researching Jane Darragh's Diagnosis   Jane's Illness: What Did Acute Mania Look Like in the 19th Century?   Jane's Illness: Home Life, Beginnings of Mania, and Mental Illness as a Cause of Death  Jane's Illness: Home Care, Her Doctor, and Her Caretakers   In the past few weeks, I've been looking at my great-great-grandmother Jane Darragh Cassidy's cause of death—acute mania. We've learned that Jane was not institutionalized for her illness but rather cared for at home as was usually a first option. Her physician, Dr. John Sheahan, was newly graduated from the University of Toronto and opened an office in St. Catharines in 1896, just a few years before Jane fell ill. He possibly knew the most advanced treatments for Jane and ...

The Thumb's Christmas

 

Our daughter, Anne, was a prolific artist when she was young. Our refrigerator door was full of her drawings, paintings, and school artwork. She liked to create little books, too, as she was also a natural storyteller.

One Christmas when she was about eight years old, Anne wrote and illustrated a Christmas story for her little brother, James. If memory serves, she drew her inspiration from a book she had recently gotten from the library by illustrator Ed Emberley. He wrote and illustrated The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. In it, Emberley showed how to make a variety of animals and people using a thumbprint as a starting point. The creations are simple and charming. It's amazing what you can do with a blog of ink and a few black lines. It's art that's accessible to anyone.

Anne's story is called "The Thumb's Christmas," and is based on our family. There is a thumb with glasses (Anne), a thumb with little hair (toddler James), a thumb with a mustache (Jim), and one with a half-circle of curlicue hair (me). There is even a thumbprint Santa, bear, and Christmas tree, along with a little story.

I get a kick out of reading it every year. Not only is it creative, but it was a gift from the heart from our daughter to our son. I'll always treasure it. And hope you will like it too.



It's Christmas at the Thumbs!



 

They went for a walk in the snowy woods.


 

They wrote Christmas lists...


 

They set out eggnog and cookies for Santa.


 

Where are Mom and Pop going?


 

Shh!


 

What a nice surprise!
The End.

 

Until next time... 

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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.

P.S.  When Anne was a little older, she wrote a story called "Spider's Christmas," which I've featured here in the past. It's always fun to read again. Share it with a little one in your life this Christmas.



Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Isn't it delightful? She really got the expressions right!

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  2. Such a precious book! Fun and fanciful.

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    Replies
    1. I'll be sure to tell our daughter you liked it! Happy Holidays!

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  3. What a wonderfully creative imagination she had. So cute! My youngest used to make Christmas gifts like this for us as well! The best gifts to treasure always! Thanks for sharing. :)

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    Replies
    1. She really did...still does. I love these handmade gifts the most of all. Gets me where I live!

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