A wreath that is Christmas festive, but not overtly holiday themed--meaning that I can get away with letting it hang into mid-February. My obsession with decorating the house for the holidays began in, well, late September when I fully accepted the fact that for the bulk of the holiday season I would either be enormously pregnant, or healing postpartum with a newborn. For this very reason, everything was moved up. Fall decorations were up after Labor Day, Halloween candy was purchased about 3 weeks before Halloween (and then "repurchased" a few days before due to the fact that I'd consumed most of what we had) and we were ready for Christmas by Thanksgiving.I didn't do this alone. My sister Megan, who had her first child in October, generously offered to come during her maternity leave time and help me. It was really kind of nice to have someone else tending to garland and lights while I rested on the couch cooing with my then 5-week old nephew. Fall decor was down and holiday decorations up by November 22nd, tree was up and decorated by November 26th, cookies baked by December 1st, baby born on December 3rd--scheduled down to the minute. I kind of feel bad for not taking it easy, especially since I was supposed to be on bed rest, but it was truly out of my control. A ridiculously dangerous marriage of my passion for holiday decorating and an extreme case of nesting had consumed my brain. It was a lost cause from the start.
This beautiful wreath and the holiday flower box arrangements that you can't see were compliments of my very talented mother who, in addition to coming and helping me with Alice the first week home, created and added the finishing touches to my Christmas cottage. She made this wreath, adding four birds--one for each of us. Everything else is down, packed away in the basement until next winter, but I just can't bring myself to remove the wreath, a beautiful symbol of my very loving, giving, tender family.
I love the wreath, and if it makes you feel any better i can't bring myself to take our stockings down :)
ReplyDeleteI finally took Brian's christmas tree down in a lunch-break rage. I don't know what came over me one Friday in mid-January, but I up and left the office, drove over to Brian's apartment, unscrewed the base of the dehydrated tree (all the while, pine needles falling off all over the place) took it outside on the deck, tipped it on the edge of the railing and aimed for the grassy knoll below. When I heard someone talking on the balcony below, I realized that might not be the greatest idea. In short sleeves and boots, I picked the tree up and walked it down a flight of stairs to the dumpster for its final resting place. A trail of pine needles (about 2 feet wide, hundreds of pine needles per square foot) marked where I had trod. I'm surprised the tree even had any left on it by the time I got it to the dumpster! Needless to say, Brian swept for about an hour later that evening to finish the job. Not so poetic, but that is how my christmas ended, violent and dramatic, for no cause. I like that you're still living the majic of christmas!
ReplyDeletehahah!!!! Mare, that made me laugh so hard. I love it. I mostly enjoy the thought of you trying to pitch a 2-month old Christmas tree over the balcony. What would Brian's neighbors think?! ;)
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