Arts & Entertainment

Create Your Own Holiday Wreath

A brisk walk in the forest doubles as creative foraging when you gather natural items like pine cones, evergreen branches and holly.

Driving home from my son's evening Prof. Gallitto basketball practice last week, it seemed every other house had twinkling Christmas lights — blue (my personal favorite), white and multicolored.

With such unseasonably warm weather, I hadn't fully comprehended that December had arrived. Sure, the radio occasionally carried holiday tunes but without at least some brisk cold, it's not beginning to look a lot like Christmas — yet.

Here's a way to rustle up a little holiday spirit. Pile the family into the car and drive (or bike) over to a nearby woodsy area like Wadsworth Mansion, Wadsworth Falls or any of the blue-blazed trails highlighted in the Middletown Trail Guide (see pdf).

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First thing, remember to wear gloves unless you've got the skin of an alligator. You won't believe how handling these items will scratch you up and even cause welts, like they did to my 8-year-old who toted some hemlock out of the woods.

You can pick up any items on the ground, like Hemlock branches, but do choose the greenest you can find. For the base, you'll need "green" or soft, recently fallen branches whose diameter are slightly less than that of a pencil. We found pine and juniper as well.

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Select downed birch branches and peel off the white, papery bark to add a white element to a wreath. Pinecones of various sizes work well, as do acorns.

In the yard at home, we found some fresh holly (extremely prickly, so watch out) and a tiny purple-flowered type of laurel. You'll need floral wire and wire cutters. I picked up a small string of battery-powered lights at the drugstore.

To start, take the bendable branches and fasten two into a large circle, using the floral wire. If they snap, you can reinforce them with an additional branch as a sort of splint. Then weave several more branches along the circle until yours resembles the backing shown in photo three.

Be careful of the floral wire ends. Work them into the wreath base so you don't poke a hole in your finger like I did and spend 15 minutes administering yourself First Aid!

Then take your greenery of choice (even a combination works well for various textures) and insert the ends through the base, weaving in any long ones. Work in one direction — clock- or counterclockwise. Do one layer or several, whichever your preference.

You can adorn it with so many things: colorful fruits and vegetables like tiny pears, little gourds, oranges or cranberries; painted walnuts (I've used nail polish) pinecones spray painted gold or silver and whatever else strikes your fancy.

Upload your holiday centerpieces, garlands or wreaths here or email them to me at cassandra.day@patch.com and I'll share them with Middletown Patch readers!

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