Holly Leaves…Christmas Trees…And Memories…

As I sit here in our study/extra bedroom…and look out the window…I see our holly bush or tree or whatever they call it here in Arkansas…it is so green, even now in December…those that may have followed Your Roving Reporter, may remember that when we built our home here in Little Rock, and I was asked what kind of landscape I wanted…meaning bushes, etc…I told him, “I come from a place that everything loses its leaves in the fall. So I want bushes that stay green all year round.”…he said, “I can do that.”…and he did…I don’t even know all the names of the greenery that he put in…but it is multicolored and most of it blooms at least once during the year…the azaleas bloom three times…heavens, they are blooming right now!!!…I again this year put our Christmas lights over pink azaleas blooming in the front and back of our house…what a deal…here it is December 3rd and we still have flowering bushes…I think I have a picture to show you…the pink flowers, with red, green, white, yellow lights over the top…lets see if I can find one…well, the best I can do is one from a couple of weeks ago…in November…it looks about the same but with Christmas lights draped over the bushes…azaleas peeking through the lights…like this one, I finally found one for you to see…for someone from Minnesota, it is unbelievable…but this is the last of the azaleas…they will be through blooming in a week or so…then we wait until spring…

So we do have our Christmas tree up and glowing…the house decorated…thanks to my lovely wife…without her putting in all her effort…it would be a lot less decorated, putting it mildly…we all love the Christmas season…all the lights and color…the tree is decked out with all kinds of ornaments…after being married for almost 50 years, you do have the tendency to have lots of “old” ornaments…but they hold such meaning for us that we use them every year…I wish you could see it…loaded down with years of memories, reminding us of years gone by…and it still looks beautiful even after all these years…heavens, lets let you see it…

So with the holly just outside my window…full of red berries…and the one across the street it is loaded with berries too…and later on this winter flocks of cedar waxwings will come and eat these same holly berries…after some cold weather to cure them a bit…it is something to watch 20 or more birds attacking the bushes with a flurry of activity…then fly into another tree, eat what they have and then back for more…winter here is certainly different than in Minnesota…but no less interesting…that is, if you are interested…if you know what I mean…

So this will start my December posts…I will warn you from the beginning…I will repost some from the past…why?…because I have used some of them for over 15 years…some for more than that…they touch me with their simplicity and meaning….I hope you will enjoy them…I used them in my past life as a principal of a high school, with the staff and students…so I hope you will give it a whirl…even if you have read or seen one or more before, I hope that once a year and maybe this year…it will be meaningful to you as they are to me…

Let me be one of the first to wish you a Merry Christmas…as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ…Who brings peace and hope to a needy world…and may you thoroughly enjoy this wonderful season of the year…and to top this post off…a picture of our mantel…Judie spends far more time than I would…but I really enjoy what she does…I hope you have lots of family time this season of the year…Judie has pumpkin bread coming out of the oven right now…guess what I am going to do?…I will close this…and will be back with a number of December posts that I hope you will enjoy as much as I do…Merry Christmas…