Into the woods for holly & ivy

Oh for a wrapped up warm, wintry wander in the forest.

A favourite treat of ours during these shortest of days.

 

We loose ourselves in this place, filled with natures magic

amongst the silent & majestic bones of these ancient trees.

 And as we step deeper amongst the branches

the trees twist & turn & take on most mysterious shapes

 

We wander of the beaten tracks and explore

 glimpses of vivid lichens we spy tucked away here & there.

Yet these are not the things we quietly hunt

We are collecting bright prickly holly & starry leaved ivy

to carry back through the falling dusk, to our wee cottage

for there we "deck the halls" and bring the outside in
to celebrate the  coming of Christmas.
like our ancestors before us.

* Long ago holly was often planted near homes to protect against lightening strikes.
Nowadays scientists have discovered that the spiny parts of the leaf do indeed
conduct the lightening away from the holly bush & surrounding area!