I guess your Christmas is very hot FanKi...I mean literally not figuratively.
I know what you mean about needing to connect to the picture. If I do not feel connected then I do an awful job. It has to be something I want to do. Luckily for me I connect to a lot of scenes and things. It comes with age I think, at 67 almost everything has touched my life one way or another.
I'm betting if you were to draw something related to basket ball your creative juices would just overflow.
Sounds like your weekend was great.