Sunday, December 10, 2006

Wreath Thief

Someone stole my nice Christmas wreath from the storage room.

Frankly, that sucks.

I discovered the theft tonight, when I finally decided it was time to take down the autumn leaf wreath I've had on the door for a couple of months. I am, at heart, a crafty girl (yes, it's a bad "fat middle-aged woman" kind of stereotype) and I make most of my own greeting cards, decorate my own wreaths, and on the spur of the moment can put together a pretty darn nice homemade gift.

A few years ago, I started decorating my own wreaths, using basic fake fir guys or the bent wood ones from Michaels (on the weeks when they're ridiculously cheap) and "picks" - the wee bits of seasonal decoration designed to be wrapped around and tucked into the wreath frames. The Sasquatch still has the Christmas one I made for him years ago (and it makes me happy to know he still uses it each year.) I made a couple for my old office, Job X, and I took one of them when I left, which has been tucked away in the basement since March 2005. It was a more basic wreath, without all the bells and whistles I put onto the one I made for my own apartment door. My home wreath had berries and funky leaves and pine cones, a handful of tiny bells, and a great red velvet bow. It was, if I say so myself, a pretty nifty number.

But it's gone now. Such a stupid thing to steal. It's not as if anyone could hang it on their door here in the building. (That would require a rather un-seasonal asskicking from yours truly.) I can only assume it's either hanging in someone's office somewhere, or it was maliciously tossed out by someone. Regardless, it made me sad to see it gone.

I dug through my dusty boxes and found the simple wreath from Job X to hang on my door. It's just got holly berries and a little gold and a big plaid bow. Nothing special. And yet, perhaps in putting it on the door, I'm reclaiming a little more of myself. It's an inanimate object, after all, not some dark talisman reminding me of how little those people thought of me. It's something I made. Time to take it back.

It's on my door now, and at the very heart of it is the small copper kokopelli figure I bought in Riverside, Iowa last year, on my trek with my brother's ashes. Having that little guy around is a reminder of my brother, and he's been on my door since I came back from that trip. First, he was alone, and then, he swayed in the center of my autumn wreath. Now, he's in my Christmas wreath. My nondescript Christmas wreath, made for a place where I was not wanted.

I hope that whoever stole my nice wreath finds pleasure in it. I hope that other people see it and find it festive and beautiful. I will take solace in that thought.

For now, I'll enjoy the simple wreath at home. In a way, it speaks to this whole year for me. A time of change, a time of adaptation, a time of downsizing, needing and wanting less, but hoping for more.


For hope really is a very good thing.

7 comments:

Janet Kincaid said...

I like your simple wreath. It's elegant and festive. But I'm also sorry about your regular Christmas wreath. I was going to wish bad things upon the person who stole it or threw it out, but that would be a contradiction of the season, wouldn't it? Still... Not a nice thing to do. Definitely worthy of coal in their stocking this year.

spocko said...

I was going send you some greens from GG Park, but it looks like you have the wreath thing covered.

Good.

Heather Meadows said...

That's a lovely wreath. I'm sorry you don't have the other one anymore. But you are crafty, so if it continues to bother you I'm sure you can recreate it, or make an even better one :)

In the meantime, I think reclaiming the Job X wreath was a fabulous idea.

radiocynic said...

Sorry to hear about the other wreath. (I think the remaining one's nice, too.) In the spirit of the season, you can look at it that your handiwork in the stolen wreath is still going to brighten the holiday season of someone less fortunate, even if in this case it might be someone morally less fortunate!

Cyn said...

Something similar happened to my sister a few years back -- her decorative (non-holiday) wreath was snatched right off her apartment door.

She bought another, but hung it with a note attached -- something along the lines of "Don't you dare touch this wreath you m-f..."

Now that's holiday spirit for ya!

Anyway, I like your simple wreath -- even if its existance holds bad-workplace memories, you've made it into something altogether different with the addition of the little guy inside.

Anonymous said...

U're styles so good - content guarenteed - great work coming from you! I wanna see you get the rewards for your work - so keep at it and keep blasting us folks. I dunno how I can help out other than linking to you. near_earth_object

Anonymous said...

it's still a beautiful wreath, even if it is your 'simple one'. And I love kokopeli. :)