Christmas. A time of memories revisited and traditions upheld year after year: the annual trip to fetch the tree, the hanging of familiar ornaments, and the savouring of Grandma’s Christmas cake. The list goes on.
I must admit I’m a stickler for traditions but when my mom came for a visit two summers ago I decided that the Christmas of 2015 was going to revisit a long forgotten family tradition—something creative and very unique.
It all began when my mom looked out onto our garden. We have a big garden, large enough to keep us and several of our neighbours stocked during the winter months. But what’s most impressive of this spot of land is the flowers, that, come late June, cover our garden in bursts of red and black. Yes, we grow poppies, and we and the bees love them.
The thing is, however, poppies have a somewhat annoying habit of reseeding themselves and that year our garden was more red than green.
“You’re garden is lovely, Donna. Reminds me of my mom’s garden back on the farm in Saskatchewan. She grew everything but she also scattered the poppy seeds. Come fall time we picked the poppies, dried the seeds and used them in our baking.”
Then she told me something else. Turns out that during the depression my grandma’s innovative skills were always being put to work, especially during Christmas. That’s when Grandma would take out her paints and brushes she brought with her from Norway and paint the dried poppy pods. Then she would string them together and hang them on the Christmas tree. Bright, colourful and very festive.
I stored away this new information and when fall arrived I saved hundreds of those poppy pods from our garden and my daughter and I painted them and strung them together. They looked absolutely beautiful. I wrapped them in a box and brought them to my mom when I visited her in October. She loved them, of course.
And now this year, after an extra generous spring sprinkling of poppy seeds, I’m going to do it all again. But this time I’m making a garland for our tree. And each year I’ll add to it as the poppies take over the garden, again. I’ll be starting a new tradition. Well, maybe not new, maybe more like restarting. And I think my Grandma would like that very much.
If you want to make your own Poppy Garland here are a few helpful tips:
- Pick the pods when they have dried and are turning brown. Leave about six inches of stem to make it easier for painting and leaving upright in a jar to dry.
- Cheap acrylic paints work well.
- String them together with clear fishing line, threading through the top part of the pod, through the holes where the seeds escape. This way the garland has a “wavy” look.
- Spray with a gloss glaze - preferably one that doesn’t yellow.
