Holiday Tradition #2: Wreath Making

Every year, or nearly every year, my mother-in-law, Heather, hosts a wreath-making party the weekend of Thanksgiving. She has the perfect house for it, with a wrap-around porch that provides plenty of space for everyone to stretch out and show off their mad wreath-making skillz.

Auntie Gail happens to have some mad swag-making skillz.

Everyone brings greens from their yard (or, like me, they make their husband hack off a few branches from the Christmas tree they just cut down that day), throws them in a pile in the yard, and it's a wreath-decorating free-for-all. My sister, Alisa, brought holly from the holly tree in her front yard, Angela brought some really pretty winter berries, and word on the street has it that Heather has been stopping along the sides of random country roads for weeks now to collect pretty moss.

We take wreath-making very seriously. As you can see.

Heather goes all out for this party, providing hot cider, soup for dinner afterward, and free tutorials on how to make pretty bows. There was, of course, the requisite mocking of my somewhat-sparse first attempt at wrapping greens around that tricky wreath frame. I will never live down my love of Charlie Brown decor. It took awhile, but I think the finished product turned out pretty nice. Now I just need to get Bryan to hang it on the front door!

(I am noticing in all these pictures I'm posting just how difficult it is to see who's who in the group shots. Oh well. I'm over on the right hand side with my not-so-sparse completed wreath, and my sister is standing behind me with her much-fuller version, complete with bow. Show-off.)