Saturday, January 11, 2014

"Burning the Christmas Greens"

My Christmas tree with the candles lit.
Dear Friends,

During this week of the Polar Vortex storm, I took down my Christmas tree. I think nothing is as forlorn as taking down a tree. It only matches the uplifting joy of putting up the greens.

As most of you know I decorate my tree with candles as well. This is a long standing German tradition that I brought home with me from my stay in Germany years ago.

However returning home this week, I found my tree was shedding its share of needles and needed to be taken down. Candle by candle....trinket by trinket...went back into the box.

I was hoping someone would brave the blizzard winds to come over and help me haul it out, but in the end I did it myself. I usually carry my tree out to the bird feeders to act as a buffer. This year I didn't quite make it that far with the deepening snow. I will get it there sometime this weekend, stand it up tall, and let birds rest upon its branches during the duration of winter.

When I lived on the farm I cut up the branches and placed them on my herb beds for protection from the winter winds. Those beds were up on a hill and received much bitter cold.

My poet friend, Norbert Krapf, told me about the poem, "Burning the Christmas Greens" by William Carlos Williams. I am sharing a link to the poem at the bottom of this post. Please listen to it as well. I love it, and it is a new poem to me.

Just as a thought, once when living on the farm we did burn the greens in the woodstove. I am surprised we did not burn down the farm house! (At least not then, but that is another story!)

Until tomorrow,
Lou Ann


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2010/12/weekly-poem-burning-the-christmas-greens.html

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