The more people I meet, the more I realize Graeme is a really nice dude. He comes in from work and I don’t have to ask him to do anything at all. If there are dishes, he will wash them. If I left the vacuum in the middle of the room again (hehe, sorry), he will pick up where I left off. If I haven’t started dinner (hehe, sorry), he will whip something up while singing and occasionally, clapping. And now he has agreed to have a wreath-making contest with a lady. That’s a really nice guy right there.
Graeme says he is diligent with housework because his mom trained him to be helpful. By the time he was six years old, he was dusting, vacuuming, making his bed, setting the table, doing dishes, filing his parents’ tax returns, burying pets, probably taking the trash out but he can’t remember now, and being an excellent child in every way.
Except for the time he threw a tiny rock at the passenger’s window of his dad’s truck, as a scientific endeavor. It left a tiny mark and he didn’t think anything of it, but the next day it was completely shattered. Forest enjoys this story tremendously because it ends with daddy getting a sore butt cause Grandpa Jim is old school.
The aforementioned excellent child, who just turned 32, just asked me, real snarkily: “Are you also going to write about when you started doing chores?” Yes. Yes, I am. But not today.
I will only say I first realized someone was doing my laundry and it didn’t just appear, folded, in my drawer, when I was about sixteen. I still didn’t do anything about it. I just realized someone else was doing it. In my defense, Sherlock was at least thirty when he realized for the first time that Mrs. Hudson had been making him tea and it didn’t just appear on its own. So there.
Here comes the wreath-making part for real now.
I bought a very expensive blogging course that says I should be straightforward with my posts, and only share super useful information. For this reason, I have (almost) gotten to the point (wreath-making), only 400 words in.
And of course, no one can deny the usefulness of that story about Graeme getting spanked. The blogging course has really paid off.
Anyway…here it is! Our very friendly Christmas wreath making competition that was not really a competition as much as a shared cup of tea with a hot glue gun nearby. I told Graeme he could do whatever he wanted with his Christmas wreath, and he didn’t pick anything tacky, which was very thoughtful of him.
He chose the grapevine wreath and I went with the embroidery hoop, which had been stained with Minwax Dark Walnut. The third wreath, which we worked on together, was the other part of the embroidery hoop. It was stained with Minwax Provincial, which is a special favorite. We’ve used Provincial for our shoe cabinet, mirrors, bookshelves…
As I realized afterwards, staining the embroidery hoops wasn’t really necessary, since you can’t see the color except from the side. I really like how the hoop wreaths turned out, and I have plans to make some with half the hoop exposed, in which case they would have to be stained.
Graeme finished his grapevine wreath first, because I kept getting up to make sure Forest wasn’t catching another gopher (once was too many times) and the baby wasn’t dipping her fingertips in the toilet. There’s probably a Montessori element to these activities, but I can only tolerate so many self-directed learning opportunities.
Graeme kept trying to get my approval, and I kept pretending not to notice, so he would do whatever he was inclined to. I rather like the end result. It’s woodsy and definitely not as minimalistic as I would have made it, which makes me happy.
I am naturally boring, and Graeme makes my life a lot more interesting. For instance, I recently asked him to order some socks for me on Amazon, and he got me bright pink ones with cows on them.
What do you think? Pretty good for a manly carpenter, yes? Graeme operates saws, touches toilet wax poop rings with his bare hands, and also makes beautiful lattice pies, quilts, and Christmas wreaths.
My wreath took five minutes to make. The snowy pinecones from Hobby Lobby come in a garland, so all I had to do was attach it to the hoop with ornament hooks because hot glue guns and I don’t get along well.
I burned my finger in third grade and I’m still a little resentful.
I saved the best for last. This third, lovely lovely wreath is definitely my favorite, which means we both win because it was a team effort. I attached the dried flowers, and Graeme glued on tiny pinecones with his manly hands because he is very brave and a little bit hairy.
Look at this wonderful wreath!!
We had so much fun making Christmas wreaths I’m even thinking about making a few to sell in our online shop. Would that be weird?
Because you searched for “Medicine Cabinets,” we think you might also like: Embroidery Hoop Christmas Wreaths!
What do you think? Which of these did you love most?? Would you consider buying something like this, or be very happy if a friend gifted you one?
Or maybe you’re feeling crafty yourself (in a good way) and want to make your own. Christmas wreath-making is very fun, and everyone should attempt it at least once, after having made sure the kids aren’t up to shenanigans.
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