12/9/2022
Boy, it'd been a loong time since I saw this thing. Sure I literally saw it last year when I was digging through the Christmas decorations, but it'd been at least 20 years since I'd seen it in it's fully illuminated C7 majesty.
There were few Christmas decorations jettisoned when I sold the old homestead, (shit, now this is playing in my head) but on this list of things that I had to be sure to save, this was at or near the top. I'd barely been in the old house in 10 years... hardly in it for 4 before that, and hadn't done much Christmas celebration there for another 8 years prior to that but somehow I remember the impression this wreath made on me as a kid.
Seared into my memory from ~40 years ago is the idea that this was possibly the most stunning, elegant, understated Christmas decoration in existence. Okay, I hear you calling bullshit and that's entirely fair. There's no chance that for or five year old me knew any of those words, but the sentiment still stands.
Point is, I decided this year, after having pulled it out to get other miscellany out of the closet and putting it back in, that'd I'd have to give the old thing a chance. Does that kinda have an Old Yeller vibe? Not what I was going for but heard it that way after I said it. Maybe it's more like the "hooker with a heart of gold on Christmas Eve" story. Or maybe not.
Enough blather, more {whatever the fuck rhymes with blather and roughly means something like image or picture or exemplar.}
