Advent Calendar 2010: December 5 - Outdoor Decorations

First an apology about missing yesterday - it seems my problem with Christmas cards extends to writing about them as well as in them!

I don't remember ever seeing houses decorated on the outside until I moved to the US in my early 20's. I am not sure if that means people didn't decorate their houses or if, like so many things, life was a bit different growing up on military bases.

When the boys were younger we always drove around the neighbourhoods looking for the best decorations, but we have never decorated the outside of our house.

Each year Karl makes a wreath for the front door. He uses the branches he cuts off the Christmas tree along with various bits of holly and other native plants from the farm. The one thing he does not collect is the mistletoe that grows in one of two of the tallest trees. One year our eldest son, Dan, was determined to get some mistletoe for his girlfriend. He tried the extension ladder but it would not reach, so he climbed to the very top rung of the ladder and reached with a telescoping fruit picker until he was just able to rake off a tiny piece. Obviously the heroics worked because the girlfriend is now his wife. Hopefully his younger brothers will not think that death defying, mother scaring, stunts like that are a necessary part of all marriage proposals.