aspenhill's blog: Twelfth Night

Saturday
Twelfth Night, the end of the twelve days of Christmas, is a Christian festival marking the coming of the Epiphany.

I've been enjoying my beautiful Christmas decorations, but Twelfth Night is when I start putting them away. On Thursday I had a few gardening friends over for lunch and I was glad to still have the decorations out for them to see. I was mentioning to Jill that without having children of my own, Christmas is not the same as the joyous and memorable Christmases of my childhood. In my adult years, the family get togethers still evoke the Christmas spirit, but I don't pursue the many traditions from my childhood in my own home. I do decorate, and much more elaborately than we did in my childhood, but it is more about my love of interior design than anything else.

This year I decked out the conservatory more than I have in past years.









I added the woodland pinecone themed garland around the perimeter, as well as rustic themed accessories found at Hobby Lobby.

After the woodland themed tree was up, I thought it just wasn't enough. I got it in my head to put garland up, and as it was already dark outside and I hate to drive on Rt 15 in the dark, I coaxed Mike into driving me to Michaels. I thought I had seen woodland type garland there vs the more traditional holly and berries type, but doubted that there would be the quantity I needed left in stock. As luck would have it, they had 8 left - exactly what I needed. As I was standing in line, I happened to notice that I was in my slippers - as soon as Mike said he would drive me, I grabbed my purse and headed for the car without even thinking that I didn't have my shoes on

The next morning I got to work putting it up. I had to pull furniture and plants away from the walls, maneuver the step ladder into position, and climb up and down it repeatedly. I was nearly done when Bonnie came over. I was trying to figure out how in the heck to reach where the kitchen counter juts out because the stepladder would not fit there. Bonnie said no problem, dragged over the one step stepstool, and reached it easily. It never ceases to amaze me that she can do so many things so much easier than I can with the one foot height difference between us and the longer arm reach in general!

I have found over the years that Hobby Lobby is a great resource for affordable decor. I always find things there that fit my room colors and themes. This year I picked up a few rustic looking plaques - JOY, NOEL, CHRISTMAS, as well as some rustic looking bird and gnome figurines.

I'm kind of sad to be putting everything away, but it is time. I will leave the garland up though. Jill convinced me that it is more winter woodland themed than Christmas, so I'll leave it up until spring.

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