In a Vase on Monday – Happy Christmas everyone!

/ karen

Wishing you all a wonderfully happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Anyone visiting Bramble Garden this week would have found me covered in flour. Mince pies emerged from the oven at regular intervals. Hot pies disappeared before they had time to cool. In between all that cooking, I dashed around the garden gathering armfuls of foliage; sprigs of rosemary, Scott’s pine, some wild Clematis and willow; and wove them into wreaths.

I added some dried hydrangea flowers. I love the faded antique pink and cream hues. And some willow stems with the grey catkins just starting to emerge. A welcome sign that spring is just around the corner.

I twisted some Clematis Montana stems into a circle and decorated our five bar gate. Some festive cheer for anyone walking along our country lane on Christmas and Boxing Day. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday. Thank you as always to Cathy at Ramblinginthegarden for the IAVOM meme. I always love to see what you are all growing and using for flower arrangements, all around the world. So many inspiring ideas. Meanwhile, I’m off to make some more mince pies. It is Christmas, after all!

64 thoughts on “In a Vase on Monday – Happy Christmas everyone!”

  2. Gorgeous wreaths. Hydrangeas are a favorite of mine all through the year and I even have several of the lovely blues pressed in the pages of a book. On a dreary winter day it will bring a touch of spring to create something lovely with them. Happy New Year!

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    • Thank you Alison. Thank goodness for the sunshine! It’s been sunny today, but oh the rain yesterday. All the ditches are like streams and the garden is flooded. Happy Christmas to you. We’ve had a wonderful time here. I’m now thinking about sowing some seed and tidying out my potting shed ready for the coming season. Best wishes. Karen. x

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  6. Merry Christmas Karen 🙂 I love mince pies but need to wait til i’m down at my mum’s as my husband doesn’t like them. your wreaths look awesome, i particularly like the dried hydrangeas . I made a wreath last week and am determined to make more this year and you’ve inspired some ideas about what I can use from the garden… hope you have a great 2018, love Bec xx

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    • Thank you Bec. I get all my cooking inspiration from my Mum and my great grandmother who was head cook at a large country house Bradgate House in the 1940s. Enjoy your wreath making. I love to see a pretty front door/ summerhouse / pottingshed. Makes such a warm welcome. Wishing you all the very best for 2018 love karen xx

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      • ah that’s lovely to hear about where your gardening inspiration comes from 🙂 My Dad’s grandmother was cook to gentry in the 1880s so she taught her daughter to cook really well. My gran was a great cook and despite being poor and living in east end of london taught my dad, uncle and aunt to cook really well 🙂 I get my cooking ability from my dad not my mum 😉 ah I’d love a potting shed but no room – hope you’re not being bashed around by the weather 😦 take care love Bec xx

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      • Thank you Bec. We are both from a long line of hard working ancestors, aren’t we. Well, it is very stormy here. There’s a clashing sound from the trees in the wood all thrashing about. All the birds are sheltering in the bottom of the hedge. But luckily no damage, so far. Hope you are coping with the weather. Love karen xx

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      • sorry for the long time to reply I’ve had alot on and a lurgy. the weather’s been grim here but we only had a smattering of snow last night and all gone now. hope the weather’s been kind to you. love Bec

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      • No problem. We too have been ill since Christmas and are only just taking a few baby steps back into action. What an awful time we have had. We’ve had some good weather, but the cold has returned. Soon will be spring. Sorry to hear you have also been ill. So many of my friends have reported catching the bug. Love karen xx

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  7. What a wonderful selection of wreaths and sprays Karen – you have shared so many good ideas with us and this is one of the joys of IAVOM and this community of garden blogging generally. I hope you and your Mum and the rest of your combined families are enjoying alovely Christmas time together

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    • Thank you Cathy. The Christmas foliage and berries looked cheerful on the farm gates around our garden. We have a lot of Christmas-tide ramblers walking off their Christmas dinner, so it’s nice to provide something festive for them to see when they’ ve walked a mile from the village. We had Christmas at the in-laws and all the families came together. Everyone brought a dish of something, and we dug the veg from FIL’s garden and cooked them at Mum’s. Mum just lives next door, so all the food dishes were passed over the garden fence in a relay of relatives , which was a fun. I hope you are enjoying your Christmas holiday time as well. Love karen xx

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    • Thank you. Big family get together and all went well, thank you. Phew! We go to the cemetery today on our Boxing Day walk to see the graves of my father, grandad and grandmas – all in the same place. They are never far from my thoughts. Happy Christmas to you snd yours, and all the best for 2018 x

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  14. Christina Merry Christmas endearing with peace, love and best wishes. May the New Year 2018 be prosperous and bring you good health and all your wishes be fulfilled. The crowns are so beautiful that they are unique. I love them all, they are beautiful, made with natural materials: the dry hydrangea is beautiful and the rest of the foliage is so beautiful. Are those reddish branches Cornus? Whether or not they are precious. It is lovely that you have placed a crown on the fence that overlooks the public road so that the people who pass by will be imbued with your great Christmas spirit. You are unique. Do not get tired in the kitchen baking that today is Christmas! Many memories and Christmas congratulations to your Mother. The best for you Karen in these parties and in 2018. Very sweet and Christmas greetings from Margarita.

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    • Christmas greetings in return Margarita. Yes, we have a lot of festive ramblers on the lane in Christmas and Boxing Day. It’s cheerful to deck the farm gates with some foliage and a few baubles. Hopefully makes them smile. We have had a fabulous day. I never went to see another mince pie though :)) My sister in law’s all brought food to my in-laws house. We split the jobs between us so it was not too much work for one person. I travelled there with a huge cream trifle on my lap! Luckily me and the trifle got there without drama! Mum of course was there too as she just lives next door to my in-laws. So we cooked all the vegetables at my mum’s and passed the serving dishes over the garden fence. It was jolly! Hope you have had a wonderful day too. Festive greetings to you and your family. Love from karen and Mum xx

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    • Thank you Jessica. We’ve had a fabulous, frantically busy day. Mum lives next door to my elderly in-laws who are 88, so we cooked all the veg at her house and passed dishes over the garden fence in a relay of relatives which was quite jolly. Luckily nothing got dropped! We just managed an after-lunch walk before the heavens opened and we have just driven through the worst rain I’ve ever seen, it was torrential, to get home. Enjoy your day tomorrow. Thanks, as ever, for reading, and wishing you all the very best for 2018. I’ll be reading your blog to see progress on your lovely garden. Love karen xx

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    • Thank you Fliss. Hope you have a very happy, peaceful and joyous day. Grace loves the wrapping paper. We are still sitting in bed with the kids unwrapping presents and Grace diving on the mounds of paper, searching for “mice.” Moments that will be stored in the memory for years to come. Much love. Karen xx

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