Wreath Making 101

The first weekend in December has been wreath making weekend in the Black family for as long as I can remember. Maynard taught Craig and Craig taught me how to make wreathes and it has been one of our family Christmas traditions that have carried down to our boys Jake, Ben and Grant who look forward to doing it each year First task is find boots. This can be hard when you have 3 brothers and everyone's feet grew. This is usually the first time that everyone is headed out into the snow and has to have them. Can cause some striff along with who's hat is who's from last year.. and can anyone find a working glove that does not have holes in the right hand? Lots of lefts but not a lot of right gloves. Usually after this weekend I am headed to Walmart or the boot store to fill in the blanks of what we discovered was missing. This year Jake ended up in his tennis shoes in the snow because his brother Ben got to the size 12 boots before he did and we now need a 2nd pair of size 12's. Next year 3 pairs of size 12's Next step is to arm everyone with saws. Some enjoy having a weapon, I mean a saw in their hands more than others Some have more fun arming themselves with snowballs aimed at their brothers and dad, just not at mom with the camera please! Next it comes in handy to have a 40 acre woods in your back yard with spruce and white pine. Time to pick out the boughs. Some state forest and parks all folks to cut boughs in them, just check locally to find out where you can trim some. Just please do not pick opening weekend of Deer Hunting to go on someone's private 40 and upset hunters on opening morning. As happened 2 weeks ago on our 40 with hunters we had set up. People just wandered on our land with no blaze orange on and started cutting limbs. A couple of gun shots in the opposite direction got the point across to them by our hunters to please exit private property. Loading up the gator Time to head out of the woods and back for some lunch and wreath making This was my favorite morning!!! Everyone following me in the woods. Romping through the snow... What they are up to is beyond me. I just know this is the season I may not lift my leg on the tree in the livingroom Next step, it is nice to have a heated cabin outside your own house to set up shop to keep the mess out of your own home. Clipping boughs to get them ready to assemble Tools of the trade. Clippers and craft wire. I have found this green wire at hardware stores and also at greeneries or floral shops. Assembling the bundles. Mixing balsam and white pine Completed bundle wired together on the end. Each wreath takes about 15 of these bundles or so b Boughs waiting to be trimmed. Usually the person who enjoyed the saws aka weapons enjoys the trimming job as well Take a hanger and form into a circle. This brings up a topic of conversation... wire hangers... if you bring wire hangers up to the resort with your clean dry cleaning on them, please throw them out. I wonder how many I pitch each year. We do not keep more than 10 of them around the resort on any given year for wreath making. Thanks! Anchor the wire around the hanger hook and start wrapping each bundle on to the wreath The completed wreath. Needs some decorations and a bow. Make them for yourself, make them for neighbors or friends.. there is an endless list. We make them as long as they are fun to do, turn on some Christmas music, warm up some apple cider and start wrapping