To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year. – E.B. White
Taking a year off from the traditional holiday decorating I do at this time of the season – what’s the point when we’re not having visitors inside anytime soon? – I’ve happily trimmed down that extravaganza to a few choice pieces – a group of bells for jingling on the front door, our childhood mouse-house, and this bouquet of evergreens and eucalyptus, punctuated by a pair of owls from Faddegon’s.
It was at Faddegon’s where I saw the original (and much finer) version that inspired this whimsical display. It’s a magical place at the holidays, filled with bulbs, poinsettias, ornaments and other holiday jewels. Their designers craft scenes and holiday-scapes to complement every season, and manage to conjure particularly enchanting work at Christmas.
For this bouquet, I started with some eucalyptus, then looked right in my own backyard, plucking a couple of Eastern pine branches, a sprig of juniper, some Thuja ‘Steeplechase’, and a few bare oak branches that had some horizontal elements to them. The latter provided the perfect perches for the owls, lending a whimsical aspect that is usually too precious for my liking. I’m shedding such cynicism for the rest of the year, embracing the winter wonderland that such a scene evokes.
It’s a woodland fantasy come to interior life, and I love its inherent wilderness.
