What are the Colors of January?

    The month of January always reminds me of the two stints I did working in day-care. One was in Texas for about 8 months and the second was in Georgia for a little over a year. Even though my class in both instances consisted of the 18 month to 24 month old children, I was expected to create and maintain an age/season/education appropriate bulletin board in my room just like all the other teachers. My imagination does not mesh well with bulletin boards – there is so much else that needs to be done on a daily, even hourly basis – how can there be any energy, let alone creativity, left to put together a bulletin board every couple of months or so?

     Getting an idea or theme was what took up the most time for me. I would feel like a Dr. Seuss character thinking until my brain got sore. Then once a theme was dreamed up, I would get a little excited until realizing that I did not have the artistic skills needed after all to do a good job on the bulletin board.

     But the first January that I worked day-care, I was rather proud of myself for what I came up with. I wondered what are the colors of January? After the greens and reds, even the golds and bolds of the Christmas holidays in December – what would be the colors of January to distinguish them from December and yet still be special? February would be bringing back the red because of Valentines Day, and March would be ushering in the green of spring and the pastels of blossoms and Easter. What colors are left? What are the colors of January?

     Well, there is white – the color of snow, the color of the bleakness of the winter season. But white all by itself is not a good scheme for a month or a bulletin board. There would have to be a contrast. So I decided on white and black – the white could be the season and the black the details that define the white – And the bulletin board was put together – the colors of January were black and white – the lettering on the board was in black on the snowy white paper; the animals of the month would be black and white like pandas and zebras and skunks and all-white like polar bears and all-black like other bears – lots of animals to fit the descriptions. Stories were easy to gather for the theme – yes, that took care of January quite nicely.

     The next time I found myself working in day-care during a January – the theme came immediately – of course January is black and white.

     And ever since then, at home, when making Christmas go away, as my Mom used to say (in an accusing voice that made one feel guilty!) I find myself wanting to put a January tablecloth on the tables where the reds and greens had just been displayed. But what would be good colors for January? And the answer jumps in immediately as black and white. Last January I decided that my daughters needed black and white schemed tablecloths for their homes – I would make sure Santa brought them some this past Christmas.

   

Amanda and Tony January 2015

    Last week Amanda and Tony had dinner guests, and they set a beautiful table – and Amanda sent a picture: So beautiful! Which then prompted me to complete the January look on my own tables: 

the sheep and penguin are a nice touch!

a dash of color for the hope of spring

      Glad there are not any bulletin boards in the house because this is all the creativity there is in me!

12  20150112  January Colors