Natural Decorations

These days there are parties, packages and people rushing to finish their holiday shopping and prepare to relax. All the hustle and bustle of the holiday season tends to hold sway over our lives during the winter months. The relaxing book and beach chair are forgotten, the balmy breezes of the beach replaced with gusty blasts of wintery wind.

Although we don't expect snow or sleet like other areas of North Carolina, we have our own winter weather or damp, windy days. We still shiver and talk about the weather just as we moaned over the high humidity of August. We gather near the indoor fireplaces, out of the drafty doorways of our towns. The outdoor firepit and barbeque are replaced with a merrily blazing hearth and holiday baking. We withdraw into our homes and nest.

Outdoors there is a magic show, a painting occurring in the leaves and the turn of nature's seasons. The oak trees have turned from green to red, bringing a natural Christmas cheer when seen against the deep green pine. The grasses are plumed, swaying in the wind with delicate undergrowth always in motion.

Nature decorates for the holidays with brilliant blue skies, white puffy clouds and the brilliant reds and greens of the plants. Holly berries are bunched on deep green stems, camellias bloom red against the dark leaves of the evergreen.

We need to remember to slow down and notice the natural celebration occurring all around us. We need to notice the origins of our own decorations. The holly and the ivy, the red oak leaves, the pine cones dropping down as a modern art form of the Christmas tree. And during these few days when the moon is bright, don't forget to look up to the dark velvet sky, you'll see the diamonds of nature sparkling down on your own celebration.