23 December 2009

Christmas wishes in red, white and green...


Today is my birthday, and it's been a very pleasant one, with phone calls and cards, emails and visits with friends and family. Having enjoyed the awesome tourtiere made by my Long Suffering Spouse, I decided to digest it and wind out the day with one more pre-Christmas post.

Green and red have long been colours associated with Christmas, although if you're into cultural anthropology, you know that colours can mean very different things in different cultures, faiths, countries. I don't propose to delve into those various meanings, but just offer up my own interpretation as a kind of benevolent wish to all my blogging friends and non-blogging readers around the gardening world.

Green is my favourite of the three colours most used at this time of year, because it means green growing things: or as poet e. e. cummings wrote so exquisitely in one of my favourite poems, "for the leaping greenly spirits of trees." Yes.


White means tranquility to me, even when winter winds blast gales of snow in off the irritable Bay of Fundy. The purity of white flowers calms and sooths, and snow falling gently on dogwoods and willows, stone and wood, just erases the blemishes and mistakes (humanmade, not of nature). We have a blank palette on which to dream and create for the future.


And then there's red. I used to not like red, for a whole lot of reasons, but I've embraced it as a colour of brilliance and life and good fortune. There's a lot of exuberant energy in the colour red, and of course it's used in the flags of many countries, including mine, our good neighbours to the south the USA, Britain and France and Italy and many more, around the world. So I like to think these three colours tie us all together as one great big gardening family, no matter where we live, no matter what hardiness zone we garden in.

So as we move into the season of Christmas, of Solstice, of celebrating family and friends and joy and hope (whatever your faith or reason for celebrating), I hope that each of you will have moments of introspection and thankfulness, giddiness and peacefulness. The coming months (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) will be time of rest and rejuvenating for gardens and gardeners alike. May you never lose that sense of excitement that comes with watching tiny seeds sprout into baby plants and grow steadily into "leaping greenly spirits" of trees, vegetables, flowers and fruit.

Happy Christmas, friends.

37 comments:

  1. A very happy birthday, Jodi! As an artist I must say that your sense of color is amazing and I agree with all of your observations.

    I hope that you too will have " moments of introspection and thankfulness, giddiness and peacefulness. "

    We will get through this season of winter and make it to another Spring to once again experience the joys of gardening.

    Happy holidays,my friend.

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  2. Happy Birthday Jodi! I love your red, white and green collages. I am learning to love red too. Merry Christmas. Stay warm.

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  3. Happy Birthday! And a Merry Christmas to You as well. Your kitty, Mungus looks like my nap buddy, Fido. All of the good garden blogs have cats. You ever notice that?
    Cindee

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  4. Jodi, hope your birthday was a very happy one! I enjoyed your post. Hank

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  5. Happy Birthday Jodi. I feel like I just received a gift from you on your birthday.

    It is amazing how color can evoke so many feelings.

    Your kitty parade is such a joy to view too. The one in the photo on top is darling with the bow.

    Merry Christmas to you and LSS.

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  6. Happy Birthday Jodi!
    My best wishes for the coming year.
    Thank you for all your wonderful posts.
    Please continue 2010!!
    At this Christmas Season we remember and honour those who are no longer with us and cherish those who are.

    Peace On Earth and best wishes throughout the New Year

    Gisela

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  7. happy birthday jodi!
    and a very merry christmas too
    i am a christmas baby also-
    the 29th-and i bought myself a early bday gift an orchid! my first~ its a creamy white with light yellow centers-beautiful
    i think i am on to something here LOL
    thank you for the inspiration :)
    have a joyous day
    tabby
    www.crookedheartart.blogspot.com

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  8. Jodi,

    A very Happy Birthday to you! It sounds as though your day was all one would hope for and I am happy for you.

    I love your montages of colors-perfect for the season with hope for the coming of spring.

    As for moments of the season I am thankfully giddy for my family and dear friends far and near.

    Bless you and your family and thank you for a delightful holiday post. May your holidays be all you want. :)

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  9. Jodi girl !
    A VERY Happy Birthday to you : )
    Birthdays can get lost being so close to a major holiday like this .. so I hope you do get some extra extra attention too girl !
    I am such a fan of white and you are so right about how most of us react to it .. green and red are wonderful colours too .. but I love what you have done with your white !!
    Have a wonderful Christmas and a VERY Happy New Year .. you live in a beautiful area and I know you appreciate it (I'm a little jealous of course ? LOL)
    Joy : )

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  10. Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas to you as well. I hope your Christmas is as delightful as your birthday was and as good as your wonderful posts!


    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

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  11. Lovely collages of Christmas colors! Happy birthday and happy holidays!

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  12. Merry Christmas and a Happy Birthday to you Jodi! I'm definitely a fan of the green this time of year too.

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  13. Heartfelt Birthday Wishes Jodi! I was warmed by your words ... a lovely post ... illustrated with beautiful photographs. It is so meaningful to think of the colors of the season in this way. I share your favored love for green and delight in the quote "for the leaping greenly spirits of trees." Have a wonderful Birthday!! Happy Christmas to you too! Best Wishes, Carol

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  14. Jodi:
    I trust you are enjoying a wonderful birthday and that LSS is spoiling you rotten.... and just in time for Christmas.
    Love the red, white and green posting..... I am rediscovering the importance of white via a history of Sissinghurst! - although one garden should not supercede everything else!
    Have a fabulous holiday season and we'll see you on the other side of 2010!

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  15. A beautiful reminder to tuck in our winter heads, jodi. Do hope your birthday was divine. Bless your Long Suffering Spouse and his gift of tourtiere (we should have a bake-off)! The happiest of holidays and wishes for a healthy/peaceful New Year!

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  16. Happy Birthday & Merry Christmas to you from a blogger-fan who enjoys reading your informative posts with it's wonderful sense of humor ! I also love the color green in all it's vivid hues...symbolizing life itself. As well as being a cat lover with my own two special buddies...I am always fascinated with nature's magical growing process of tiny seeds planted...given love and care...grow into a harvest to feed the many (whether it's food to eat or eye candy to visually cherish)!Hope you continue with lots of future blogging...you bring a ray of sunshine into our gardener's hearts !

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  17. Merry Christmas Jodi and here's to a wonderful 2010 :)

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  18. Wishing you a belated happy birthday. Hope you enjoyed your special day.

    Happy Holidays!

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  19. Happy (belated) Birthday, Jodi! I so adore your colorful photos and delightful prose. Have a very Merry Christmas and delightful New Year! Thank you for an amazing year of beautiful posts and photos.

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  20. Happy belated birthday & Merry Christmas to you & yours!

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  21. Marry Christmas Jodi, excellent post and happy birthday.

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  22. Happy Birthday...one day late!

    As you have noticed, I have snow for Christmas! I'm thrilled. Tonight and tomorrow might not be so thrilling though - up to an inch of accumulation of freezing rain tonight, with rain tomorrow. But for today I won't complain - the snow is wonderful and the sky is blue! Tomorow I only need to sit and talk and eat all day!!

    A friend just emailed me, and she ended her message with 'May yours be Merry and Happy' and, well, doesn't that sum it up? 'Merry and Happy' to you and yours.

    (And the days are growing longer!!)

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  23. Belated Happy Birthday wishes Jodi, wow what beautiful montages! Very interesting to read your spin on the colours too :-D

    Just wanted to stop by and wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2010 to you and yours :-D

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  24. A belated happy birthday and a merry Christmas. I love the collage of the color green. It too is one of my favorites.

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  25. Merry Christmas Jodi and Happy Birthday too!~~Dee

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  26. Jodi, my apologies for being so late in wishing you a happy birthday, but I mean it with all my heart and send much love and many hugs your way. I hope it and your Christmas were just right and that the new year will bring you only good things. You deserve the best!

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  27. Happy belated birthday and a very Merry Christmas to you, dear Jodi!

    I love your color collages!

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  28. Hey jodi, I was just passing by the Bay of Fundy and stopped to say hello. I wished you Happy B-day on facebook so I'll wish you Merry Christmas today. I like your wreath in the header and your pretty green collage. You just might make a good gardener some day. Keep practicing.

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  29. Happy Belated Birthday! The collages are beautiful. Merry Christmas!

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  30. Happy birthday and merry Christmas, Jodi! Wishing you a year of gardening enjoyment!

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  31. Jodi, I hope your holiday was filled with love and celebration! Your photos are wonderful and especially appreciated in the gray winter weather! We had rain and 40mph winds. Priscilla was not blown out of the tree...We celebrate her survival skills! have a good weekend~gail

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  32. Happy belated Birthday, Jodi! I, too, am not a big fan of red--or orange--in the garden, but it is a welcome color this time of year. I hope that you, LSS, and the cat family (including the cutie in your header) have had a wonderful and relaxing holiday!

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  33. Jodi,
    The merriest of wishes to you this holiday season. Loved the green, white and (especially) red- my fave colors and the accompanying photos. May your year be filled with lots of each for growth, peace and energy every day! Thanks for another year of blogging at its best.
    Meems @ Hoe and Shovel

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  34. I trust you had a wonderful birthday and a great Christmas! I'm so happy we're now heading for more light and I'm already reading seed catalogues. Spring will soon be here, won't it?
    Hugs!

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  35. Jodi . I just had to add a couple of P.S.'s ??
    It is FOGGY here this morning .. I'm waiting to hear the fog horn ..
    AND .. the thought of all your cat kids trying to line up on the fireplace mantle .. well it would remind me of something for the "Far Side" ? LOL

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