Planting memories

Today I planted snowdrops in the green in my garden. The snowdrops are from my brother's garden.  My brother died 5 weeks ago and this is for me a good way to remember him, because he loved gardening and he's probably one of the people who has inspired me most in my gardening.

I love to have plants in the garden which remind me of people I have known or places  I have been to. As I planted the snowdrops I shed a few tears  for the brother that I loved. Tears, sadness, dark days are much a part of my life at the moment. But I know I will work my way through it and next year in the dark days of winter when the snowdrops are flowering they will bring me hope and peace and help me to focus more on  happy memories.

A sadness

At this time of year around  January and February I start to feel a little bit sad.  Each year when I start to feel this way I wonder why.  And then at some point I remember.  I don't know why that every year, and it's now after 30 years, I should forget and then remember.  

But when I realise why I am feeling so down I always start to feel a little bit better in myself.  And I do something to make me feel better. I buy some flowers, because she loved flowers. I buy  not just any flowers but  flowers that she would have liked.  She wanted garden flowers at her funeral, but she died in February a time when there was little in the garden except snowdrops. So I buy or cut from the garden snowdrops and early daffodils and they remind me of her.

Taking the Christmas decorations down

 

According to tradition your Christmas decorations should come down by  twelfth night or you will suffer bad luck, although  there is some confusion as to whether twelfth night is 5th or 6th January. 

It is thought that the bad luck tradition originates from the days when people brought greenery into their homes at Christmas time. They believed that tree spirits lived in the greenery and bringing the greenery inside protected the tree spirits during the harsh winter months. The tree spirits had to be released back outside into the countryside after the Christmas period otherwise they could bring mischief into the house and crops would not be able to grow again.  Read more about it here

We have taken our decorations down now,  it usually takes us 2 days to do it, but we do have a big house.

I know many people can't wait to get their decorations down and out of the way, so much so that they usually have them down by 1st January. Not me, I cling on to them for as long as I can.

I love Christmas and all the sparkle, glitter and twinkling lights and when I finally have to remove it all I feel really sad.  For me those decorations are full of memories.  Memories of  the past few weeks--cutting greenery, making wreaths, arranging flowers, buying and decorating the Christmas tree, but most important, memories of family time together. But I also think of past Christmases, as many of our tree decorations go back not just to when our children were small but to my own childhood.  And as I pack everything away I'm  thinking of what the next year will bring.

But once everything is packed away and the house it back to normal, I'm fine, ready to start the new year, to look ahead and plan. And in the next few  weeks  my house will be filled with the fresh new  spring colour of snowdrops, daffodils and hyacinths.

The tree spirits have been released so I am hoping for some good crops in the garden.