Christmas wreath for the In a Vase on Monday spot

 Each Christmas I aim to make a wreath to place either on the front door, or as at this house hanging from the light by the front door. I am joining in with Cathy as usual this week and I am sure there will be Ivy and Holly on offer.

I offer up this wreath and my angst, and subsequent reconciliation for finding and being content with new rituals suited to the situation.  Christmas has started to become a problem for me, but going forward, since we have now dispensensed with an annual tree, I am going to embrace the wreath as my contribution to celebrating the winter solstice and add a festive air to our home for the Christmas period.  It was most helpful reading a post by Sel Calderbank,  giving a viewpoint from another country and I now feel happy with a calmer viewpoint towards this period. 

Here is this year's wreath.

It grew by accumulation with no plan whatsoever.  The thin few strands of willow twisted into a plain circle were reclaimed from last year's wreath and stored in the shed over the year.  From our workshop lead by Alison where we made table centres, I salvaged a couple of stems of conifer and green eucalyptus, and the variegated ivy comes from that growing on my side fence.   That is how it remained for a few days. The ribbon came from my ribbon box and has been used of many Christmases.

It went slightly against the grain to add a few silver sprayed seed heads, but we had had the can of silver spray paint which miraculously still worked after so many years, and the seed heads were remnants from a vase made up for our reunion. 

When we unpacked our Christmas tree with all the decorations we took the decision to dispense with the tree.  That and several of the decorations were given away in time to be of use to some family or person.  At this stage the wreath looked noticeably bare.  Our neighbours really go to town with houses light up and Pippa across the road makes up the most glorious of wreaths.  Inspiration then came and a few of the retained Christmas decorations were then added to the wreath, including the lights which we have had for several years.  They are quite simple, not flashy meaning they don't flash, or have a timer, and require me to pop out and flip the switch on and off, no not to make them flash, but just to turn them off later in the evening to conserve the batteries.  

I hope you have all had a Christmas to remember, and maybe a few lessons about how to be happier with what you achieved, and plans to find simple pleasures in the coming year.