This portrait was painted mostly from imagination and is based on a memory of a girl I met near Christmas some years ago. Every Christmas, I find myself wondering about this girl – about how her life turned out and whether she remembers that special evening the way I do. As the years have passed, she has aged with me and this is my attempt to portray her as she now appears in my mind – still clutching her coat to keep warm, framed by glowing decorations and still captivating me with her sparkling gaze.