I am an "all seasons" kinda gal. I love the feeling each season brings with it. Although fall is by far my most favorite, I can't get enough of soft falling snow and twinkling lights or long summer nights with big watermelons resting on a picnic table. For me, every season invokes a different feeling, a different energy and every time the seasons begin to change, I can feel the hum in the air.
Because of my eclectic obsession with every season and my artist's mind that works overtime in holiday seasons, I found an outlet for my creative pulses that beat in time with nature, my 'season obsession'. Before I go on to say what that outlet is, I'll just give you some background on how much I love my seasons. My kitchen is forever suspended in Halloween mode. Witches sit here and there along with signs offering potions and spells and witches boots. On top of my kitchen cabinets rests my sleepy Halloween town complete with a headless horseman, pumpkin patch and little mini trees in every color of the fall season. Some find this strange, others find it unique and different. I call it comforting because every day I get to experience my favorite time of the year.
My fiancé's grandmother gave us an old Christmas tree that she said she had no use for anymore. I'm pretty sure this old tree had seen many family gatherings over the years. I love it simply because it holds that sentimentality. Wayward branches sticking out here and there, worn by holding countless ornaments and heirlooms and a base made to look like real wood that is chipped and scuffed from being set up so many times.
I display this tree in a corner of our home and with every change of season or holiday, my wayward tree changes also. It's branches proudly display that season or holiday's colors and traditions. For the Fourth of July I strung aged red white and blue ribbon on it and decorated it with an assortment of Independence Day ornaments and flags. For Halloween I wind twiggy, fall-like vines through it and hang my favorite spooky goblins, sometimes I add a little bit of spider web for that eerie effect. Sometimes I incorporate my own ideas into it. One time I went and scoured for weeds and flowers, hung them to dry, then haphazardly stuck them in the tree for a prim, herbal effect.
Time has a way of getting away from me, as I'm sure it does for everyone else. The seasons change, sometimes I'm ready to say goodbye, but most times I'm not. I've been captivated by this wayward tree that helps me get the most out of every season, helps me stop in the middle of my living room, slow down, take a deep breath and remember all the seasons and holidays in my past, makes me anticipate all the memories waiting for my family in the holidays and seasons yet to come.
~Missy Sue Hanson
