This was the first year since I have been with my husband that we spent Christmas with his family. We had always spent Thanksgiving with them and Christmas with mine. Since our place is a wee small, we decided to rent a beach house steps away from the ocean. My husband’s brother is an artist that creates beauty with gems from the earth, so I was inspired by both him and a friend of mine Amanda (Soule Mama) to start a new tradition for the holidays: a Gratitude Garland.
Each of us gathered beachy gems and bark and leaves from around the beach house. We then sat around the table with wine and music and conversation and painted on them with the intention and mindfulness of what we were grateful for. It was a practice in slowing down and breathing in and being present during a season that can feel overwhelming at times.
When it was all strung together and hung the next morning on the porch, I felt chills. It was beautiful, so beautiful in such an organic and free way. I wondered why I had never thought to do this before. To string together treasures and hang across a room or outside on a porch or from tree to tree in a backyard. It doesn’t need to just be beachy gems. It can be pages of your favorite quotes or pieces of fabric from clothes that meant something to you or dried flowers from a romantic evening. It could be anything we would want it to be. It could be our life’s work, our dreams, our hopes, our manifestations, our prayers. It could be treasures we are holding onto but want to set free in the wind so the energy of those memories will live on forever.
We are moving to a a new home in June of 2011. I now see myself putting in a beautiful box items that are precious to me and that I could see hung across a long piece of twine. Boho Gratitude Garland’s strung throughout my home.
I am continually finding a deeper fascination for boho style and decor. I recently became a member of Pinterest and they have dozens of boho photographs pinned up on there!
- Lauren
Ladaisi Blog
so inspiring :)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/theblissfulgypsy?ref=pr_shop_more
Beautiful!!
That is truly beautiful, and lucky for you your family has an appreciation for such simple beauty. My family just got back from a cruise with a ton of photos. We are planning on have a get together to show a viewing of our experiences. While in Roatan and Belize we stopped into some fun little bars. You know the ones where they let you autograph and leave a few words of wisdom behind. I thought I’d paint up a few pressure treated 6 inch wide pieces of wood in bright colours, just like the islands. When people visit, they would sign and leave a little affirmation. It would definately be a long standing memory keeper. I have just signed up for a blog, so will send it along when I’m a little happier with it’s looks. Love your blog,
From one Dreamer to another, I want to visit Newfoundland one day, I’m from Ontario,
This is genius. Such a great idea to combine natures gifts with gratitude. I am inspired.
I love this and have seen folks doing similar garlands this year. Love. What a fabulous twist on prayer flags, garlands etc. I think we will have to do our own variation here in Jamaica. In the meanwhile. I have posted my New Years Wish for those interested here:
http://somethingblu.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/you-gotta-be-startin-somethina-wish-from-the-rock/
Hellooo!!!
I just found your blog in internet and wanted to say you that your blog is beautiful!!!
And I love your idea with the garland!! It looks soo fantastic and I love the photos you took of it!! wow!! Really beautiful and creative!!! I think I have to do something simliar for my room..hm…thank you very much for this inspiration!!!
Have a happy new year!!
Ooh, I love the idea of a gratitude garland!
oh! i LOVE this, denise! at the moment, my garland would be made of snowballs (hee hee) but i’d love to make one of these come summer. happy year of gratitude. xo
Very nice post. I definitely appreciate this site. Stick with it!
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