Process Essay Christmas Wreaths

WREATHS

Winter time often brings magical memories that last a lifetime. Families head out in search of their perfect Christmas tree and decorations are hung all through the house. Cider is simmering on the stove and the smell of balsam is in the air. My hands are cracked and covered with sap and there are boughs all over my kitchen table.. There are small grooves in my index fingers from pulling the wire so tight to ensure that the traditional holiday decoration that I’ve made will look perfect on our front door and dormer windows. The traditional decoration that I’m making is the Christmas wreath. My front door is open….come in, have a seat and some cider and I’ll show you the process of how to make a Christmas wreath.

The first step involved with making Christmas wreaths is to gather tips for your wreaths. It is always highly advisable to get landowner permission when gathering tips; unless you are getting boughs from your own personal property. Always remember to wear something orange when out in the woods; as it’s typically November when I tip for wreath making. You will need to bring along several large trash bags to put your tips in.
One large trash bag will typically make around three 12 inch wreaths. Once you’ve found the perfect tree that has plenty of healthy looking full boughs—go back around 10-20” from the tip of the bough if you plan to make a 12” standard sized wreath and gently snap the branch off. In summary, landowner permission, wear orange, trash bags, look for healthy boughs, break off only what is needed for the size of the wreath that you plan to make.

So, now that we’ve trapsed around the woods and gathered up our bags of boughs…now the fun begins! Take your wire ring that can be purchased at any craft store for about fifty cents each; and your roll of floral wire. Take your wire and loop the wire around the ring four to five times and pull tightly to anchor the floral wire on to the wreath wire. Take a few boughs and lay them on top of each other—then fan the boughs out with one bough on each side and one bough in the middle. Put them on top of your wire ring and then loop your floral wire around the broken end of the bough three times and then pull tightly—but be careful not to pull so tightly that the wire snaps. Continue this process until you have almost covered your wire ring. Once you get back to where you started place a few boughs going in the opposite direction and secure with wire. We can hide this area with our bow; so don’t fret about it not looking symmetrical. Take your floral wire and finish the wreath off by going around the last boughs that were placed four to five times. Then take your wire and cut a one foot long piece of wire. Triple the wire up and loop it around the top of your wreath and twist it to make a hook.

Now that we’ve gone through the process of how to gather boughs for our wreath and how to place them on the ring; our final step is to decorate our Christmas wreaths. This is my favorite part of wreath making because we can decorate our wreaths in whatever fashion we desire. I have used twisty berries, pine cones, candy canes—or I have simply left them plain and tied on a gorgeous red, burgundy, or even a red and black checkered country looking bow. This portion of wreath making is based solely on what the person making the wreaths desires for decorations. It is a chance to display your own inner talent.

Aaahhh….we’re finished. Now we can sit back, relax, sip on some cider and rest a bit before we head out into the cold to hang our wreaths. Once hung, we can reflect back onto the process that was involved in making our gorgeous wreaths that “don” our front door, dormer windows, mailboxes, lamp posts, and garages. We will feel a sense of accomplishment when we reflect on our cracked, sticky fingers; and all of the compliments we have received about our festive Christmas wreaths.