In between coats of paint in the bathroom—I'll tell you about that later—she gave me a primer on outdoor decorating for the holidays. First, we wanted to replace the summer windowbox arrangement that the previous owners had designed with a festive winter windowbox. She also pitched the idea of setting up some little pots for the front step, which I liked.
Mom tackled the windowbox while I slowly started poking pine boughs into one of the pots. She used drapey pine boughs (they smell wonderful!) with artificial red berries, and she reused the summer arrangement's sticks. (I think she arranged the whole windowbox in the time that I worked on one pot.) In the pots, we stuck a different kind of pine bough vertically (very precise language here, I know) and then added more drapey boughs, pine cones, and red berries. The weather was good for working outside: temperatures were near 30, and the sunshine was surprisingly warm.
Mom at work:
And voila!
One more view of the windowbox:
And me with the little pots!
At the start of the morning, I had no idea how to even articulate what kinds of arrangements I liked best. Mom was so helpful in walking me through the steps, patiently advising me, and presenting different options. I like this new touch of cheer.
