Hello fellow blog followers, friends, clients, and new visitors!

Tomorrow marks the date of Cathy T’s “5th Annual Kissing Ball and Holiday Creations Class!”

It’s hard to believe, but this class has been running for five years now.

It all started when an idea popped into my head to hold a class on making holiday kissing balls, wreaths, and centerpieces using fresh evergreens after helping a friend assemble her kissing balls at her home.

Each year, this class is coordinated with a mix of excitement, anticipation, and fears.

What do I mean about fears?

Well, when working in the plant world – because plants have the potential to be affected by any number of unexpected surprises, there is always that little bit of fear that something could go wrong.

Just yesterday, I shared a link about a California tree grower experiencing a huge loss of holiday grown trees due to drought. Christmas trees take many years to reach the perfect stage for sale during the holidays, so image his disappointment when 500 trees were so badly affected by lack of rain fall, they could not be offered for sale this season. This is something he really had no control over because his trees were suffering from the forces of Mother Nature.

But, most people in the horticulture trade learn how to roll with the punches, solve any unanticipated – or unwanted bumps in the road and move on quickly. And usually, they never give up either.

On the day I drove to my suppliers to finally pick up my order of fresh mixed evergreens  – a day highly anticipated and enjoyed every year around this time – a blip happened.

When I arrived at their door, they told me a big portion of my evergreens order was not in yet.

My reaction was not pure panic, because it was one of those – here we go moments, but disappointment set in. I have things to do and get done, and this would be a slight delay to deal with.

I thought, “I guess this is my unexpected storm this go around?”

As I questioned why and how quickly they could resolve this blip, suddenly, out of no where, a very pleasant gentleman showed up by my side.

I had never seen him before and he reassured me all would be fine. He promised to make a special delivery to my house the very next morning.

When I questioned him on the time of the delivery, he said they would be there by 8:30 am.

Timing was important to me, just like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, a great deal of planning goes into my special day – so I didn’t want this little storm to delay the gift of greens used in my class by all the Kissing Ball Makers.

Thankfully, the next morning, one of his elves did show up, as promised — on time.

“Phew.” I thought.  All looked great and it was onto my next to do’s to prepare for the class activities.

As I was working, I started thinking, “Who was “that guy” yesterday?”

As I mentioned, I had never seen him before in all the five years I have driven to their place to pickup my evergreens. Was he an owner? Is he a new worker?

He certainly was very attentive and saved the day.

Was he my Rudolph?

Perhaps!! To me he was at that moment – he made sure the delivery took place no matter what it took – typical of horticulture people – especially this time of year.

So, long story short —

Making beautiful holiday kissing balls with fresh evergreens will happen yet again, despite those fears or blips which may happen from time to time in the plant world.

We will be surrounded by holiday decor, warmed by appetizers and holiday cheer, and share our day with enthusiastic kissing ball makers.

You may search the question: “How to make kissing balls?” via Google on the Internet, and you will find many videos and information on the how to’s, but you don’t get the holiday magic which happens in Container Crazy CT’s holiday workshop each year, unless of course, you are a fortunate attendee.

See you all soon new and advanced Kissing Ball Makers!

Ho, Ho, Ho…

Affectionately,

Your Pseudo Mrs. Claus