You Can't Beat Three Decades Of Joy

Shown in the picture above is a silk floral Christmas decoration that I love and which has been gracing our kitchen counter for 7 years.  Of course, there is a story associated with its' creation....  lol

Back in 2014 hubby surprised me with a different kind of natural flower arrangement.

It was a beautiful red and white roses, carnations and mums arrangement in the most adorable container - a Christmas bulb with top included. The natural flower arrangement was filled with red roses, red carnations, white mums, ribbons and greenery.

I loved the arrangement and the container so much that I decided that once the natural flowers died I would re-create it with silk floral. Surprise! Surprise! lol

I thought it would be a lovely Christmas floral decoration that we could take out year after year. That's the beauty of silk floral - it doesn't die off and can be used again, and again, and again.  And, every year when we did it would bring back a memory of the original gift given with love.

So, when Michaels had all their Christmas silk floral on sale after the holiday I decided to buy enough silk floral to re-create the arrangement.  However, the shopping trip didn't quite go as planned.  Here's what happened:

I wanted to get red roses, red carnations, and white mums along with greenery and some sparkly pieces.

You always know that when you buying silk floral for any arrangement that you're going to buy more silk floral than you actually need to create your piece. And, I, for one, always buy much more than I need as I like my silk floral arrangements to be full.  What a surprise! lol

So, I bought a few silk floral sprigs. Okay, make that several sprigs...... Okay, make that many more than I needed to re-create this piece.

And, of course, they didn't have any white mums so I had to substitute white roses, white carnations, and white poinsettias. I also bought some red poinsettia as I wasn't sure whether I would like them better than the red carnations when creating my piece.

They also didn't have the evergreen sprigs I wanted so I had to substitute a few other greenery sprigs. Okay, make that may other greenery sprigs.  Okay, make that many more than I needed to re-create this piece.

And, of course, I had to get a few Christmas sparkly pieces - just in case I wanted to add them to my arrangement. So, of course, I ended up buying way more than I needed.

In looking at the cart hubby said, "You need all that?" I, of course shook my head - yeah! lol

Remember, I said, you never know until you're creating your piece exactly what's going to look right and I like my pieces FULL. So, for sure, I needed all of this.

Hubby, of course, is on to this ruse and knows I always buy way more than I need and always have more than one arrangement in mind.

Besides, it was all on sale - or so I thought.

Well, when we went to pay the cashier said the red roses and white roses weren't Christmas floral so they weren't on sale. What?????? They look like Christmas flowers to me.....

And, they were with the rest of the Christmas floral. The whole floral department was, in fact, filled with nothing but Christmas floral - how could these not be on sale?

Half the store was dedicated to Christmas floral for heavens sake......

Needless to say, there was already a long line of impatient customers forming at the registers (or should I say foaming at the mouth) as the cashier had been ringing up all the individual sprigs I'd chosen for several minutes now.

So, after looking at hubby and giving him my sweetest "I'm sorry" look, we purchased them anyway at regular price (gritting our teeth) as I really, really wanted to use the big Christmas bulb holder and re-create the floral arrangement I absolutely loved.

And, as hubby well knew, I had another Christmas silk floral in mind that I really, really really wanted to create.  And, when I had my mind set.... well, you know how that goes... lol 

Needless to say I did re-create that floral arrangement with the silk florals I had bought sometime after the 2014 Christmas holiday season.  Every year since then it has proudly taken it's place on the counter at the far end of the kitchen. 

I love it there and I suspect it loves being there as it is one of the first silk floral arrangement you see when entering our house at Christmas.

There is no doubt that real flower arrangements always trump silk floral arrangements, due to their sheer natural beauty, but they do not last for years and, as a result, only supply joy for a short period of time.  

Some of the silk floral arrangements I have made have lasted for over 3 decades.  And, they always look good as new.  

Think about that. Three decades of joy.  

It might not beat mother nature's magnificent beauty but it does supply immeasurable joy year after year after year!  You can't beat that!