With Boughs of fake Holly

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but the fact of the matter is, I have no discernible artistic ability whatsoever.  My sister got all those genes.  The proof, if required, of my lack of talent is here in this photo.  I try, Lord knows, I try but this is honestly a best effort.  I was filled with Christmas Decorating spirit.  I know that we brought with us a little bit of our previous collection of holiday decor (although I'm not positive what we kept to be honest) but I'm not  certain where it is.  Somewhere in the utility room in one of the dozen or so bins which are stacked to the ceiling.  There is no hope of me reaching the top ones to get to the bottom ones and so rather than be defeated, I hie me off to the local dollar store (a recent addiction).

There I found the simple plain green circlets, various  sparkely do-dads and a package of small scale tinsel garland in varying colours. I don't know why I believed it to be true, but in that moment, I honestly believed that I could make something wonderful with it.  I loaded up my cart with items, came home and immediately got to work. I laboured mightily over my creations and in the end, this is what we have. I actually have two of these now hanging on either side of the entrance to the courtyard of our home.  I'm sure passersby believe that I am the indulgent grandmother of toddlers and am proudly displaying their craft. Either that or I have particularly gifted cats.

---

Oh, and I didn't stop there either.  Encouraged by my wreaths, I then created these.....what are these?  To hang by the front door.  The lizards find them fun to play hide and seek in. The baskets in their frame is actually something leftover by the previous owners.  I found it amoungst other knickknacks and decided that this could be something.  And now it is.....something.  Worse, in the summer I filled each basket with brightly coloured silk flowers, again dollar store finds.  Colours that do not exist in actual nature. Nice and bright and eye catching. Maybe eye attacking is more accurate.  At least these winter decorations are muted in colour intensity. The funniest part is that while I'm creating these, I was thinking, "Wow, these look good"  And then I hung them up, admired them and thought, "Not bad".   And then I was so encouraged that I went on to do another.

---

There are actually two of these.  The containers are terracotta, I assume they are intended to be filled with real flowers.  There were already here when we arrived, permanently affixed to the wall. So I could leave them empty, attempt futilely to keep real plants alive, or put faux plants in them.  As I have not yet managed to kill a fake plant or flower, I choose that option.  Again, during the hot humid summer, they were chockablock with neon coloured flowers of the silk variety. But once it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas  I took all my leftover dollar store goodies and loaded it up. Looks like a messy birds nest.

I may have no artistic ability to show for it, but I have enthusiasm for days.  So much so that I couldn't resist hanging lights as well. White twinkle lights.  Ok I misjudged the actual number of strings of light that I needed but it's sort of centered, that must count for something!   The point is, I am well aware of my strengths and weaknesses, but I don't ever let that stop me. Might slow me down a little, but that's all.  Is it perfect?  No. But it's festive and it makes me smile. In fact, I watched the FedEx guy walking up the driveway a few days ago, he paused to look at the decorations and a huge smile bloomed on his fact despite how busy he is this time of year.  So again, while not perfect, not very pretty, certainly not professional looking, it looks happy, it looks holidays and it even made the FedEx guy smile. There is some value in that.

Beware clever and artistic people, I may begin decorating the inside next. When it comes to Christmas decor, too much is just enough.

---