The best time of the year

During my childhood the best time of the year started in the middle of November. Then my Dad brought home tons of fir branches and the first real!!!! Xmas trees. The shelves in the work room got filled with candles of all colors and sizes, spools of Xmas ribbons and lots of little ornaments.

The whole family worked overtime. The children (my cousins & me) were allowed to put little pieces of strong wire into the bottoms of candles so they could be fixed on the balls of forest moss, together with fir, ornaments and some ribbon.

On this picture my Mum is heating the bit of wire in a flame to put it into the bottom of the candle in her left hand.

These days the florists have floral foam - much easier to handle. My grandfather and later my Dad spent countless hours winding hundreds of fir wreaths all afternoon and night in the kitchen.

 

The female adults of the family and the staff decorated the fir wreaths and loads of other advent arrangements. When I was older, I was allowed to decorate the inexpensive simple wreaths for the market:

It was a time of hard work, but also of closeness, the smell of fir and homemade biscuits. The ready pieces where stored all over the house and on shelves in the basement.

The weekend before the first advent (like this past weekend), the whole shop was re-decorated. The plants moved into the green houses and the shop turned into a advent wonderland.

Unfortunately a bad cold stopped my preparations for advent last week and I had to work all weekend as well. Now the chores are waiting to prepare the house for the cosy time of the year.