It all started with a question, “Would Jay be able to build an Advent wreath stand?”

Then an example was given…

Ideas were passed around and a drawing was produced…

Wood was procured…

Power tools were revved up and put into use…

Then there was sanding, staining and poly-ing done…

Parched throats were quenched…

Lots of gluing occurred…

There was some bending going on…

(with sounds of disgust being emitted due to everything working out even though there was only an idea of a plan)

Then it was assembled…

Would it end up working out?

Could we really get the wreath to look okay?

Would it look better than this:

The day after Thanksgiving was the day that we got together at church to set up the wreath stand and decorate for Advent. I was nervous because I’ve never assembled a wreath or really done any kind of floral arranging. That’s not my thing and I don’t feel like I’m good at it. Luckily Brandon has some experience with decorating for various church holidays, including floral arrangements. He told me what the idea was for assembling the wreath and then let me go at it.

He helped with details, we all stood back and looked at it, and decided what we wanted to do. I sent Jay home to make platforms for the candles so that the globes would sit securely. Brandon had dried some hydrangeas and then spray painted them to bring the color out. Finally we discussed pine cones and purple ribbon. When it was all said and done this is what we created:

Wow! It looks like we actually knew what we were doing!

The pine cones didn’t really show up very well on the wreath so they were left off. The ribbon took away from the simple elegance. All that was used, besides the greenery, were hydrangeas, the glass globes, and some green leaves (not sure what kind).

I think that it’s gorgeous. We saw a picture of another local church’s advent wreath, and all bias aside, I like ours better. Their wreath has a ton of stuff on it (fruit, white-tipped pine cones, and other flotsam) and it just looks like somebody was trying to clear out their stash to make room for some new stuff so they tossed the old stuff onto the wreath.

I knew that the stand would shrink once we put it on the altar, but it actually didn’t shrink too much.

Jay and I were asked to light the first candle Sunday morning. Our priest announced that Jay and I had made the wreath stand and used pews from the previous church. There was an appreciative murmur from the congregation. After mass there were a lot of compliments given to us, but I don’t feel that I did anything extraordinary. The concept was developed and brought to life by Jay. All I did was some sanding and staining. We were blessed by God who not only provided us with the talent that we required, but also allowed everything to fall right into place and it all worked out perfectly.

Hopefully our church will be enjoying this stand for many, many years.