The day started out with everyone gathering at my house at 12:30. There were 8 guys (Rich, Erik, Paul, Glenn, Dave, John, John, and Mike) on gal (Valerie) and one dog (Sophie).

After everyone was good and toasty by the wood stove, we headed out to gather some local flora. My neighbors at Cranberry Hill Farm were kind enough to let us wander across their fields in search of colorful berries and interesting plants to adorn our wreaths.

The multi-flora rose hips were especially bountiful this year, with most of them brandishing a nice deep red color. Some of the more interesting finds were the tail feathers of a Chinese ring neck pheasant and few spent shotgun shells.

The day was a little on the cold side, so we cut the walk down to about 40 minutes. On the way back to the warmth of the wood stove we gathered a few small white pine trees to form the foundation for some of the wreaths.

Back at base camp, we shed our outer garments and gathered around for a demonstration on how to form the base of the wreath. Everyone picked up the technique pretty quickly and was off to form some really beautiful wreaths.

Paul and Erik concentrated on crafting a spruce wreath adorned with burgundy red rose hips and pinecones from a yellow pine tree. Glenn wrapped his spruce/laurel wreath in red and gold ribbon for a unique touch.

Mike added some small bows, a gold ball and a HOHOHO to his wreath of white pine and spruce. John and Dave used the feathers and shotgun shells along with the traditional pinecones and berries to adorn their spruce wreaths.

John B. made a spruce wreath covered with a little bit of everything he found along the walk, it really looked spectacular up close. Valerie and I stuck with the traditional spruce wreath covered in pinecones and red berries for a very festive look.

At the end of the day we all posed for photos with our wreaths.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

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