December 3, 2017

To share a Christmas wreath

When visiting your bestie in the English countryside chances are you'll experience "un dépaysement"  from Paris. A thatched 17th century country house with chickens running around in the garden, cats lounging on the window sill and tail-wagging dogs waiting to go for a walk in the freezing cold was awaiting me. I passed the muddy wellingtons and green tweed jackets lined up in the entrance and headed straight for the warmest place in the house, the AGA in the kitchen!

My friend doesn't hang around so she's never cold. Sure enough, I dumped my bag in the hall way (something I never do at home) and we were off to visit an Austrian friend of hers. Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) was what I was expecting but oh, the fun was only about to begin.

We entered her most amazing white kitchen and it felt like walking into a photo of Homes and Gardens. The exposed wooden beams were fully decked with Christmas decoration. Now, this is a lady after my own heart. But it gets better, we were offered a mug of coffee and invited to create our own Christmas wreath. She had laid out the materials on her enormous wooden table with light streaming in the window from all sides.

Over the next two hours I stepped into the daily routine of by best friend, meeting people that share her English life, digging in and getting my hands on some serious crafty work. Admiring how different each of our homemade wreaths had turned out given we had all used the same materials, I could not help but think how wonderful it was not having to rush around worrying about being late in my hectic city life.

These ladies took time to listen to each other, learn from each other, laugh with each other and truly appreciated each others company while creating something from scratch to make their homes more beautiful for families and neighbours in celebration of Christmas.

Thank you ladies for a lovely gift, for I consider time spent that morning a wonderful present of Christmas cheer and friendship.


A tiny little detail to set the mood.


The bare necessities are no longer a secret.


Everyone brought greenery from their gardens...


... and got to work.


Off to a good start 


A little break with scrumptious little Mincemeat pies


One beautiful Christmas wreath by one of the ladies


A joint effort with my friend...


... after having decided not to add any red roses!


Picture perfect cottage entrance


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