Merry Christmas from the garden!

The probability of a white Christmas in the Twin Cities is somewhere between 70% to 75%, depending on which source you look at.  I’m surprised it’s that low, it really feels like we almost always have a white Christmas.

Last year we definitely had a white Christmas …

and then a white January, and a white February, March and even April!

We got a fresh foot of snow on April 1.

But according to sources online, 2021 was a brown Christmas.  I definitely don’t remember it that way.  I have photos here on the blog that would beg to differ.

But apparently all of that snow melted by Christmas Eve, technically leaving us with a brown Christmas in 2021.

Prior to that both 2018 and 2015 were brown Christmases.

I did get a photo of the carriage house in 2015.

Seeing that picture reminds me of how much I liked having evergreen garland and lights hung all the way across above the doors on the carriage house.  I may have to try that again next year.

While digging out that brown Christmas pic, I came across our family Christmas photo from that year.

That was a fun year, despite no snow.  From the left; that is my sister, my nephew (her son), my mom, me, Mr. Q and my niece (also my sister’s kid).  My nephew was visiting from Philly and my mom was visiting from Las Vegas.  It was so nice to have both of them here.

It must just be that I don’t really remember whether a Christmas was snowy or not, I just remember the fun times spent with friends and family.

That’s lucky because it looks like we’re having a brown Christmas this year.

It may not look as festive, but it certainly makes it easier to spend some time in the garden when there isn’t any snow and/or ice, or sub-zero temps.

I re-visited the idea of a garden Christmas tree this year.  Back in 2021 I put up a faux tree that I’d gotten for free at the curb.

I’d filled it with watering cans and garden implements.

But that tree ended up getting blown over in a storm and the ‘trunk’ was bent so much that it couldn’t be salvaged, at least not if I ever wanted it to stand upright.

This year I decided to purchase a small real tree and put it in a pot in that same spot.

It’s quite a bit smaller though, so the watering cans were a no go.

Instead I used some terracotta pots.  I also added some real winterberry sprigs and some rusty ornaments that I use somewhere outside every year.  I topped it all off with a rusty garden crown.

All things considered, I much preferred the full size tree.  Not only did it make much more of an impact, it was also much cheaper!  That little bitty real tree was $50!  I’m going to be on the lookout for another cheap/free faux tree to use next year.

By the way, did you notice the pair of skates hanging from my Rudolph and Co sign on the deck?

Those are the pair that I was questioning whether or not to paint.  At the time, I suspected I would end up using these outside.  Although paint with a good sealer would hold up outside, I don’t think a rub on transfer would.  So in the end I did not paint this pair for now.

I hope that those of you who celebrate Christmas have a very merry one, whether it’s white or brown.  I’m going to take a bit of a blog break over the next week, but I’ll be back in the New Year so be sure to stay tuned!