I bought some wreaths last year at Michaels, but having pines, firs, spruces, junipers, and arborvitaes galore in my yard motivates me to make some homemade wreaths and garland. (Are you impressed by my knowledge of evergreen species?! You should be. I am, lol.) One of the jobs I took on while the guys were working on the addition was trimming the White Pine trees just outside our window sliding glass door. Here is the view from our couch looking out:
See the cornfield to the right? Far back there? That's where our yard ends. 1.08 acres baby! 😉
*Note: I am not a tree trimmer, so I don't know that I trimmed these correctly, don't do what I did unless you want to take a risk, lol.
The bottoms of the pines were all needleless branches so I trimmed all branches up to shoulder height.The smell of the branches was beautiful and I knew I'd want to bring some in for the Christmas season. Yesterday I took some fir (spiky - wear gloves) and arborvitae (smells AMAZING - use a ton) cutoffs to make an Advent wreath. We are Catholic and the four Sundays before Christmas we celebrate the coming of Christ's birth. We have four candles - three purple and one pink. Each Sunday we (at church and at home) light an additional candle as we get closer to Christmas. First week one purple candle, second week two purple candles, third week two purple candles, one pink (to signify that we are now halfway to Christmas), and the fourth week three purple candles and one pink. Some people (my family included) have a white candle in the center that is lit at Christmas and the twelve days after up until the Epiphany (Three Kings).
We keep our Advent Wreath on our table and the candles are then lit at meals. We say a prayer before eating and read a small reading about Advent, things we can do in our life to prepare for our Lord's birth.
I wanted a quick wreath so I placed my candles on a glass platter (no room for a white candle, oh darn, I need a new platter...). I took alternating branches of fir and arborvitae and laid them on top of one another in a circle around the edge of the platter. When I got to the end, I tucked the last stem underneath the greenery in front of it. Not perfect, but it works! Here is a picture of the finished product, click on pic to make it larger.
This type of "wreath" would be good for a quick table centerpiece or around candles.
