Cotoneaster berries and parsley in the Vase this Monday.
Houseplant of the week – white cyclamen grown from seed. It is my houseplant of the week because it is flowering away even though it is stuck on a north-facing bathroom windowsill and reaching up for light.
Joining in with Cathy’s merry band of gardeners at Rambling in the Garden where you can see many beautiful vases from around the world and her charming touch of MAGIC!
I hope you will forgive the poor quality of my photo but the days are so dark here at the moment! and I did not have time to play around and perfect it. Better a poor photo than no photo I thought. I do so love joining in with this meme, I didn’t want to miss it.
The Father Christmas wooden doll has been our family for about 30 years now, given to my daughter by the man himself in her Xmas stocking.
This is about as festive as it is going to get around here, over many years I’ve gradually become almost phobic about the wasteful excesses of Christmas.
CJ At Above the River puts it so much better than I could:
I’m finding the constant media urgings to get more stuff for Christmas combined with news from the climate change conference an indigestible mixture. I never like the wilder excesses of the festive season. Mountains of packaging, wrapping, plastic that will be in landfill before we know it, rubbishy stuff imported from thousands of miles away. I honestly hate it. I try very hard not to contribute to that bit of the festive season, but I know I’m part of the problem. In my kitchen there is packaging that I didn’t want, didn’t ask for. Gifts that aren’t made in this country. Christmas cards with their toxic inks and wasteful production processes. The planet can’t support it all.
I’m trying very hard to be smaller about everything this year though. More ethically sourced gifts. Food with less packaging. Locally produced things. I don’t mean to cast a shadow over it all, just to think aloud a bit. Over-consumption is nauseating, the shops are making me feel anxious and claustrophobic at the moment. I wish I had a big badge that said, “I’m opting out”. Just some simple gifts for the children, a nice meal, some food with friends. A bit of greenery from the back lane, vegetables from the allotment or a local farm.
CJ writes so beautifully, her posts as so full of warmth and humour, many have responded to her post with their thoughts and I must say it gives me hope for the planet that there seems to be so many of like-mind … in blogland anyway!
I do hope you are all having a happy, healthy stress-free December.
Ravelry
Wild Daffodil 
The vase is really pretty and festive, and just what you need to brighten the winter gloom! It hardly seems to have got light at all here today. Roll on the solstice!
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Thank you Cathy – here too – the lights have to be on in the house all day – I really don’t know how people who live any further North can cope year in year out. I am REALLY going to celebrate the Solstice this year!
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Love the festive colors in your vase this week. I’m impressed that you grew your cyclamen from seed. I don’t know as I would be patient enough!
And I’m in total agreement with the over-the-top commercialism of Christmas. It really is too much. We’re not exchanging gifts this year, but opting for the simpler pleasures of the season, the company of friends and loved ones, good food and a tree sourced from a local farm. What more do we need anyway?
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My daughter was given the parent cyclamen and it produced a seed head – I sowed the seeds just to see if I could grow some plants from them, a bit of an experiment – they did take a couple of years to flower but now I have them in the garden and the house and have given many away as little gifts. I wouldn’t do it again but it was very satisfying.
I like the sound of your Christmas – you are right, we need nothing else. Have a happy time. xx
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That’s a lovely festive vase – and I like the wooden Father Christmas too. It’s very dark, wet and gloomy in manchester at the moment… My cotoneaster has gone over…. I know what you mean about ott Christmas – we are having a very quiet one. It’s been a rough year. For me. Have a lovely week love bec xx
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Thank you Bec. Here’s wishing you a wonderfully peaceful and joyful 2016! ❤
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a lovely seasonal vase and using Parsley is just inspired!
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Thank you Ann – I am looking at parsley in a new light – the flower heads are such a gorgeous green. Thank you for your lovely comment.
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Your Father Christmas looks lovely under the arrangement. You are not the only one to struggle with the lack of light, my vase looks grey in grey. Need sunlight soon
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Only another week and the days start getting longer again! Phew!
I need sunlight soon tooooooo! Thanks for dropping by.
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The berries and parsley create a festive look without having gone overboard. I’m using white cyclamen to decorate with this year instead of poinsettias. The cyclamen keep blooming all year so they’re full of joy I think.
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Thank you for your lovely comment. I so agree with you about cyclamen being full of joy! So perky!
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Oh, for a stress-free December! The holiday festivities caught me wholly unprepared this year and I’ve had trouble getting into the usual spin of things myself. That’s partly due to the sadness of recent world (and local) events but also nieces and nephews are mostly teens and adults happiest with gift cards so the energy associated with playing Santa has evaporated. My best wishes to you for a wonderful low-key holiday season!
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Thank you so much Kris for your kind wishes. World events are so dire it is hard for me to feel ok about being festive. I’m seriously thinking about going to volunteer in the kitchens in the Calais Jungle in the New Year – I can’t bear what our government are doing.
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I almost feel I like cotoneaster after all when I see all its berries like this 😉 ! We all love to see the different things people include in their vases and the parsley will be looked into by lots of us I am sure! I thought your Santa was going to be a Russian Doll type, but I assume not? Thanks for sharing, both the vase and the sentiments
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I know what you mean about cotoneaster – this one had seeded itself from a plant in my neighbour’s garden and I was actually cutting it back to get rid of it when I thought of using it for ‘Vase on Monday’.
I’m looking at parsley in a new light too!
The Santa is like a Russian doll, but hollow with no baby Santas inside.
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poor loveless cotoneaster 😦
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I am on yours and CJ’s side….Well done on your cyclamen…The arrangement is lovely…and will the parsley sprout back up now the flowers are cut…mine sometimes does.
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It is so great to find like minded people out there!
The parsley seeds itself all over the garden, so it’s difficult to tell what’s what, but I think it is biennial, so I can cut it back once, but maybe not a second time.
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I love the use of parsley…perfect…and that Santa is wonderful. I have a small collection of special Santa’s. I too have opted out of a lot. I actually am posting about that a bit on my other blog, Living From Happiness, on TH. I like the simpler holiday.
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Thank you Donna – I’ll go check out your other blog. I would never have thought of using parsley, but for searching around for Vase on Monday – such a great meme – makes me look at things in a different way – I like that!
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I love to fill the house with greenery for Christmas but sadly we are often in the UK visiting family. Your vase is fun and very seasonal and well done for succeeding with the cyclamen from seed.
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Thank you Christina. If it weren’t for Vase on Monday, I would not even have thought of anything Christmassy, but just that little touch on the bathroom does make me smile. Other seed grown white cyclamen are flowering away in profusion in the garden – very satisfying.
Enjoy your trip to UK.
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I think your display looks very festive. I agree with you about excess at Christmas but a party to look forward to in the middle of the dark and cold is probably a good idea. These days with chronic fatigue in the background and getting older I find it a bit of a burden but wouldn’t want to cancel it.
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I know what you mean by the burden bit Rainbow – that’s what I was feeling some years ago when I made the decision to opt out every other year.
I was getting resentful about how much headspace the whole thing took up when I’d rather be doing something creative of just being with my family that’s when I realised radical changes were needed! Hope you have a lovely time preparing for your party.
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When I said ‘party’ I meant the whole Christmas food and being with the family bit.
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Yes, that’s the best bit isn’t it. 😉
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Thank you so much for the mention and your kind words. I’ve been happy to find other people who feel the same about the excess of it all. Your vase of greenery and berries is lovely, what a clever idea to use parsley. I shall pop out later and see what I can find. CJ xx
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You are very welcome! Your post and the responses to it cheer me up more than I can say. The parsley flowers and seed heads are such a wonderful green and they seem to self seed abundantly in my garden, hope you find some in yours.
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