The Holly and the Ivy

O, the rising of the sun,
And the running of the deer . . . 

It's a new day, and I have filled it with distraction, although I have spent many moments glancing out my kitchen window at the place where I buried my cat yesterday.  I am still at that point where I am more relieved that her suffering is over than I am sad about missing her.  I'm sure the sadness will kick in soon.  But for now, there are distractions.

I used to be one of those Crazy Christmas Persons.  Every square inch of my home got decorated.  The kids had flannel Christmas sheets on their beds, there were stockings hung for the pets, and I made more than a few varieties of Christmas cookies, breads, and pies.  The decor incorporated Santa Claus, Baby Jesus and His Family, and lots and lots of Snowpeople.  It was a lot of work, and I enjoyed it just a little bit.

With my kids grown and gone, my holiday decorating has been limited to articles of winter, although I do usually put up a small artificial Christmas tree, and the kids' stockings still hang on the fireplace.  But these days, I think I am more tuned in to Winter Solstice than I am Christmas.  I like the idea of filling the home with evergreens and berries and lighting candles against the darkness.

And I begin with the windowboxes.  Remember when those icicle lights were all the rage?  Granted, no one's house looked like the one in Home Alone, but nonetheless, we all fell into the trap of purchasing all those strings of icicle lights to hang under our eaves.  Being the kind of person who never throws anything out, I still have some of them.  So now, I just bunch them up and put them in the windowboxes.  Then I wander around my property, trimming branches from white pine, hemlock, juniper, and holly.  It all gets stuck into the dirt in the windowboxes (where there is still some English ivy from the summer), and then I add berries and pine cones.  This is decorating on the cheap.  Costs me nothing and looks great.

Looks like a couple of angels settled in there.  Fall in love, and the angels will come.