American Plant

Talk about last minute decorating. For some reason I just didn't get to it this year. We usually go to Gingko Gardens in the neighborhood for a wreath and some branch material. But we were on the other side of town today and ended up at American Plant. We go there to get the Betta fish, Moby, plants for his aquarium in the summer. They sometimes carry some unusual stuff for my purpose. Since we don't have any space in our tiny place for a tree, I improvise and use a wall vase instead. I get a bunch of things like magnolia leaves, and a variety of evergreens. I especially like the branches and twigs with berries. It all starts with a bunch of pieces in a box from the store, ends up looking quite lovely, and is just enough for us to sense the delightful Christmas smell of the tree. And of course, a colorful string of lights as added. What's ironic about all of this is when we lived in Wisconsin, I just went out to the backyard and started chopping things that looked useful. The only thing I didn't have was magnolia leaves. Every room would have something in it. That process would take a lot of time and I started the day after Thanksgiving. There is something to be said about living in small spaces, especially when you get older.