Monday, July 28, 2008


Hi, for me it’s refreshing on this sultry July day to be chatting about wintry times. I hear Dallas may receive temps up to 106 today. We’re to get near 100 in the Houston area plus a bucket of coastal humidity. Wherever you are today, step into the shade of an evergreen and cool down, neighbor.

This week, the Word Quilters will tell you about a few of our Christmas habits, things that we do each year, unique to our families.

The Messecar’s Bear Spot—since we live on 100 plus acres, most years we cut a long leaf pine off the property for our Christmas tree. Groomed only by nature, these pines are not always the perfect shape, not always perfect-branched.

After we bring our tree indoors, we turn the area lacking in limbs toward the wall and face the fullest part of the tree toward the room. Over the years, a phrase I heard from hubby or children was, “There’s the bare spot.”

One year, I tucked a teddy bear into the bare spot, and he nestled in our evergreen through the season, bringing a lot of cheer. Now, instead of bemoaning the barren space, we enlist a teddy bear to peek through the branches and fill in the gaps. The size of the bear? It all depends upon the bare spot.


(The photo is of granddaughter Jolie helping decorate the tree last year. At three, she exclaimed over each ornamented treasure she unpacked. Her favorites--white glass ornaments with Victorian roses.)

Do you have a holiday habit unique to your family?

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