December 12th, 2025

Every Christmas, even if I don't do any other decorating, not a single bauble or bell, not even a tree, I put a wreath on our front door.  Hard to imagine but it has happened.  Circumstances dictated, for various reasons, exceedingly minimal decor and hanging only a wreath is pretty doggone minimal.

For the past nine Christmasses, the wreath on our front door has looked like the one above.  Just a plain green circlet, sometimes with a bow of various Christmassy shades from white to gold to red.  One time I tried to get fancy and wound a wide swath of ribbon 'round and 'round finishing with a bow.  It didn't look anything like what I envisioned, and in fact resembled a mummy far more than a wreath, but I hung it up anyway. 

At the end of every Christmas season, I take the wreath back down, bow and/or ribbon still in place and zip it into it's little bag which is specifically created to hold wreaths, and somehow manage to shove it back into place on one of the highest shelves in the utility room until the next year. Whereupon, it will be unzipped and rehung.  Takes about 5 minutes total, including getting out the stepstool to reach it and then put the stepstool back away.

Nothing like putting my ALL into a project, eh?

It's not that I don't like wreaths, I absolutely do.  I love walking or driving down the street and seeing all of the different wreaths on all of the doors. They are warm and welcoming and friendly and personal and I love that!  It's just that I have no discernable creative crafting talent. Not one single artistic gene.  There is not one solitary molecule of crafty ability in my brain. It's very sad.  Joy got her share, my share and perhaps a few other people's too. She's amazingly artistic and crafty and produces beautiful artistic everythings and what's more, makes the process look easy.  It's not easy.

I am aware that I could buy a pre-decorated wreath and I totally would except for two things:  1) I've never really seen one in a store that looked like it represented us and it feels to me as if the wreath on the front door should represent the people in that live in that house and 2) have you seen the price tags on pre-decorated wreaths? Holy Cats!  Not just obscene but insane!  So our plain little circle of green with it's one motley looking bow was good enough.

Except, was it? A few years back, Tim bought a string of small wreath sized lights that would definitely jazz it up especially at night and we got really excited about that!  I carefully wrapped the plain wreath with the muti-coloured lights, hung it back up and then realized once I did so that the only outside plug is on the wrong side of the door.  Meaning, if I plugged in the lights, the cord would pass across the door and we would not be able to open it.  Well that doesn't work!  Excellent try though.

 And a few more years went by and I was still hanging a plain green wreath with a sad little worn out bow.  But this year I noticed something.  Actually, I noticed a number of things.  Most importantly, I realized that from the street, nobody can see the wreath.  Part of the issue is the courtyard walls.  At the front of our house is our courtyard which is encircled by a solid stuccoed wall which means that the actual front of the house is really only noticed through the opening in the courtyard wall. A passerby would have to be perfectly aligned with the opening to see the door.  Additionally, there is an overhang. If it's raining, anyone would stay dry standing in our courtyard at the front door which is nice, but it does cast a shadow sooooo  the door is kind of lost in the gloom for all that it is a white door.  But the house itself is green, the wreath is green, there is a LOAD of shrubs and trees in front/on the sides/in the back of our house (most houses in Florida honestly) which are green plus the shadow and the courtyard and ......  Let's just say the front of the house is relatively unremarkable.  The plain little green wreath was kind of lost, unnoticed.  Awwww :(  

I don't know what came over me this year, but about a week after I initially put the wreath up, I brought it back inside. I didn't think about it at all, just operated on instinct. I found myself dragging back out the bin with tree ornaments on it and pawed through, sure that I remembered at least one box of ornaments I did not put on the tree.   Ahhh!  I remembered correctly, there it was, one box full of old and unmatched but still shiny and colourful, Christmas balls!  Only some of them had hooks so I cut and tied the rest with some ribbon, attached them here and there then rehung the wreath.​

It's about as far from perfect as anybody can get but it's bright and colourful and most importantly visible from the street (again if you are lined up just right).  And it tickles me every time we come back from somewhere and walk into the courtyard only to see this.  Makes me smile everytime

I guess when I really think about it, we mostly decorate for ourselves and as long as we are good with this, it's fine.  Which means, it's all good. At least for now.  

When the season is over,  I will again take it down, just as it is and carefully zip it back into it's little wreath shaped case, drag over the stepstool and climb up then place it on the top shelf of the shelf n the utility room.  Until next year comes around and who knows what I will do then. Certainly not me.