Saint Nicholas moves between the deliberate consequences of two separate realms, giving children a knowable hope of finding joy and and an assurance of their worth in the world.

This glorious Saint conveys the depth of love we hold for our children; it is expressed a thousand fold...gathering up into his secret fortress the sonorous wishes of everyone…measuring with stark fairness, the bounty of his bequests… unfolding his many blessings to confer upon the smaller tenants of our vast terrain… the lonely, the oppressed, the infirm, and the ones who have discovered the light of corporeal surrender.

When you enter the city limits of Bloomington, Illinois as a new tenant, a meeting with Jim White and Andy Willits is inevitable. They drive the road from Mercer, straight West, towards the site of Lincoln’s Famous “Lost Speech”, and onto Front Street where their shop, Asahel Gridley Antiques, houses the most desired destination in the Midwest.

Jim's energy is good…in a sense, Saintly, suffused with an extraordinary generosity... He watches, and with an exquisite eye, traced with a hint of melancholy, he constructs the intricate worlds of devotion and visual reflection.

Jim White continues to Save Christmas, and create the spectacle
of Colors Against Blue Days, holding the memories of older generations, and ther memories of his own (presently holding supremacy), of the young, and those not-yet-born.

A walk through the shop wakes the soul in fits and patterns of color and texture. Saint Nicholas gazes down at every vantage point, reminding us of the subtle veil between Heaven, and the earthly imagination that arouses our finer human endeavors, reminding us of the way things might be if one could willingly emulate the example of Saints, or the examples of very fine people….

In celebration of the two realms, and by our Saint’s blessing, we gather... honoring an ancient child, making real, the assent of children in all the world, to be honored and so selflessly adored.

Jim White, December 2009