Holiday Fairy Garden

 I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  We had warm weather here in Northern Illinois.  It certainly made the travelling less stressful.  Not the "White Christmas" that we sing about, but a few evening snow showers on the way home brought some smiles.  All the relatives are healthy and happy... What more can one ask for?   I absolutely LOVE this time of year!  :)

The Christmas holiday for me has always centered on the reason for my nativity being displayed and  spending time with loved ones... not so much the gift giving.  In fact, my only shopping  was for Farmer boy and his fiancé... Okay, a few for Mr. Hollow too!   It is funny, since I absolutely loved working in retail and enjoy finding gifts that hopefully will make the recipient smile.  While finding their presents, it is well known that I shop for my "gifts" as well for under the tree.  Trust me, this is NOT a bad thing.  They don't even require wrapping! LOL  Although my want list is really short, I usually have a few dream items I fulfill for the holiday.  Yes... I could buy them during the year, but Christmas has always been a time for me to do some self reflection.  The season is a time of looking forward to the coming year and realizing what frivolous or useful items will help realize some of my new resolutions.  I am very excited about a few of my items and will share them over the next month, but this post is about an unexpected gift from the newest member of our family... my soon to be in 2016 daughter-in-law... The gift of a charming fairy garden. 

Instead of buying a premade garden, she made this little scene for me.  I pride myself on being hard to buy for, but this little forest is absolutely perfect for me. :)  It is green, rustic and contains a rendition of two little critters that make me laugh to watch in nature through out the year... Squirrels!  Look at the little squirrel on the front of the log whistling as he prances across.  It makes me smile every time I glance his way.  Very symbolic of the carefree nature of the animal in the wild. LOL  And of course there are two of them!  Trouble will always run in pairs. ;)

I had to show this overhead shot.  There is a moss base in the front and back.  Hopefully, I can find a way to keep the moss healthy... Yikes!  In between the moss is a little path of tiny pebbles.

To the back of the garden, there is a wee trellis.  A tiny little vine is climbing it.

Look at the pot... orange, my favorite color!  It is such a lovely and inspiring little garden -- right out of the pages of Beatrix Potter.    Makes me wish that I had a large well lit studio area to keep it in.  *sigh*  But for or right now, I believe that the best spot is in my work area to the front of the house.  That particular work area is where I do most of my writing and idea formulating.  It will be a little magical garden of ideas... Especially, when the days DO decide to become wintry!  :)