Christmas Rose Legend When the Magi laid their rich offerings of myrrh, frankincense, and gold by the bed of the sleeping Christ Child, legend says that a shepherd maiden stood outside the door quietly weeping. She too, had sought the Christ Child and desired to bring him gifts. But she had nothing to offer, for she was very poor indeed. She had searched the countryside over for one little flower to bring Him, but she could find neither bloom nor leaf, for the winter had been cold. And as she stood there weeping, an angel passing saw her sorrow, and stooping, the angel brushed aside the snow at her feet. And there sprang up on the spot a cluster of beautiful winter roses, -- waxen with light pink petals. "Nor myrrh, nor frankincense, nor gold," said the angel, "is offering more meet for the Christ Child than these pure Christmas Roses." These the shepherd maiden carries to Jesus, who smiles broadly and touches them, turning them pale pink.
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Alan's Tips for Trimming the Perfect Traditional
Christmas Tree Years ago, Alan's personal
Christmas Tree was featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Many
of our customers have heard about this through the grapevine and have
asked for advice on how to trim the perfect tree. Alan's tree is a
particular style of old-world
tree - very much like a tree that
would have been done soon after the turn of
the century, but much more bountifully
laden.
Below are some tips and tricks that Alan follows:
1. I always use a fresh
cut tree with Christmas tree preservative
like
Prolong. I sometimes string the
lights the same day I put the tree up. But I
never hang ornaments until the tree "hangs
down and opens up."
2 3. I put the lights on the inside of the tree and usually use 2 kinds intermingled; large colored lights and tiny white ones. Because the tree tends to be thinner at the top and the lights are more visible, I have to be extra cautious to use fewer lights at the top and more at the bottom of the tree. 4. I put only small ornaments at the top of the tree, but throughout the center and bottom I use a mixture of sizes from the largest to the smallest. 5. I always repeat lots of vertical, slender ornaments throughout the tree to give an integrated look to what is basically a hodge-podge of ornaments. Some years I use glass icicles; some years I use glass pine cones and some years I use a long tapered twist, but always something long and slender. 6. I never mix old tarnished antique ornaments with the new brightly colored ornaments. I reserve the old, faded true antiques for a separate tree. Mixed together the antiques are overwhelmed by those with a shiny bright finish. 7. So that the tree looks really bountifully decorated, I use lots of clip-on ornaments on the tops of the branches. I use glass candles and lots of glass birds. Repeating these above-branch ornaments also helps to unify the tree. 8. When it comes to Christmas trees, I don't subscribe to the philosophy that "less is more". More is more. I go back to the tree after it's been decorated for a few days and fill in the open spots that always seem to appear. |
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© 2006, Carroll Gardens, Inc. |
