Dear Santa,
I’ve been very good this year. If you also think so, I’d like a compost thermomet…
Oops, wrong letter…
Dear Friends and Family in the Garden and out of the Garden,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from May Dreams Gardens!
It seems like it was just a year ago that I wrote my first annual holiday letter for my blog. And what a good year it has been.
First there was the end of winter, when I obsessed over the first bloom in the garden, a tiny crocus. I posted so much about it that I probably should have renamed my blog temporarily to Crocus Dreams Gardens.
Then once the crocuses really started to bloom and were joined by the daffodils, early tulips, and tiny little irises, I flew down to Austin, Texas, for the first Garden Bloggers’ Spring Fling. That sure surprised my friends and family, and me, too, as I don’t normally take off and go places like that.
(We garden bloggers all had great fun that weekend and plan to meet again in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the weekend of May 29 – 31, 2009.)
Nearly as soon as I got back from Texas, it started to get really busy in the garden, beginning with the first lawn mowing of the season and continuing right up to the last lawn mowing of the season.
In between, I planted the vegetable garden, battled the rabbits, won some blogging awards, got called a rock star, confessed that I might be a bit of an eccentric gardener and posted faithfully every month for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Oh, and Annie in Austin wrote a song about my garden!
What else happened this past year?
Well, there was the first (and probably only) Garden Bloggers’ Hoe Down. That was loads of good clean fun with hoes of all sizes, shapes, and ages.
And all year I kept telling everyone to embrace stuff, stuff they didn’t like. It started with weeds. Then there were insects, botanical names… whatever I thought someone might not like, I told them to embrace it!
At this point, I ought to embrace the end of this letter. I told myself to keep it short, sweet and simple, like a Twitter tweet.
Gads, I’ve just gone on and on from topic to topic, haven’t I?
So I’ll wrap this letter up with these wishes and hopes for all…
I hope that the Christmas Cottontail hops off Santa’s sleigh and visits your garden on Christmas Eve, to ensure a good show of spring blooms.
I hope that 2009 is your best year yet in the garden, with abundant blooms, bountiful harvests, blue skies, and plenty of rain.
And I hope that you’ll always find delight and joy in your garden and all that grows there.
If you ever come around here looking for me, I’ll probably be in my own garden, thinking of all the friends I’ve made through garden blogging, watching out for those garden fairies, planning the next meeting of the Society, and thinking of more things for everyone to embrace.
Yours in gardening and holiday joy,
Carol
May Dreams Gardens, December 2008
P.S. I almost forgot to mention one of the highlights of the vegetable garden, the WUT, which led me to introduce my first video on this blog! Isn’t it amazing what growing tomatoes causes otherwise normal people to do?
What a nice way to remember the year. @igcusa tweeted about this post before you did. That’s how I found out about it.
Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to you, Carol! I hope you find everything you wish for under your tree. And may all your rabbits be ones who leave presents instead of the ones who eat your beans. The word verification is “jested”…but I’m being serious!
Merry Christmas, Carol. Ans a very Happy Gardening New Year!
Carol, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and are ready to write lots of wonderful posts next year.
Your round up is full of lovely memories – I am glad you didn’t keep it ‘short and simple’. I can’t thank you enough for all the pleasure you have given me this year.
Best wishes and a Happy New Year Sylvia
Hi Carol, it has been a good year, and you have helped bring smiles to make it even better. A Merry Christmas to you and hoe, hoe, hoe!
Frances
Thank you for this delightful letter CArol. I wish for you the same things and good health to go along with them. Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Gardening Year. I will look forward to all the Gads, Embracing and Obsessing a Garden Blogger can stand.
Great remembrances and good times abounded in your garden and on the internet this year. I’m glad we got to know each other better at the Spring Fling. It was worth stepping out of our comfort zones wasn’t it?
Merry Christmas.~~Dee
Thanks for the link to the Christmas Cottontail story, Carol; I must have missed that post. I think you have been very good this year, and he will be sure to visit you and leave lots of goodies in your garden.
Thank you for all the great advice and for sharing your gardening wisdom this year, Carol. I’ve learned so much here! May you have a wonderful Christmas.
It was an amazing year in the garden, in more ways than one. I’m eagerly looking forward to next year and more stories about your bunny battles. Merry Christmas!
Here’s to a bigger and better WUT in 2009. I am going head to head with you!
I’m so glad we met up in Austin..and I look forward to many many more years of gardening with you as my friend.
Happy Hoelidays!
I hope Santa fulfills your Christmas dreams Carol, and that everyone out there has a great year of gardening. Happy holidays!
Merry Christmas Carol, and thank you for a year of delightful posts. Yours was one of the first garden blogs I discovered nearly a year ago, and I always enjoy visiting.
(I hope you get that compost thermometer!) 😉
happy xmas, keep up the blogging, see you in 2009
All… thank you all for the lovely comments and Christmas greetings!
Kathy, thanks for the tip about twitter, I’ll start following them!
Leslie, yes, if the rabbits would just understand how to behave, they would always be welcome.
Becky, and a happy gardening new year to you as well.
Sylvia, oh yes, I’m planning a year of posts. It’s always exciting to see what’s going to happen in the garden.
Frances, Hoe, hoe, hoe to you, too!
Lisa at Greenbow, Obsessing? Well, I guess a little bit of that over gardening!
Dee/reddirtramblings, Yes, spring fling is a good example of the positive things that can happen when you step out of your comfort zone.
Rose, I’m glad you like my story of the Christmas Cottontail. I think he’ll visit your garden, too.
Mr. McGregor’s Daughters, I hope I don’t have more “bunny battles” to post about!
MA, Game on! I doubt you can beat me in the 2009 tomato growing contest… but we’ll see.
Jean, I hope Santa does the same for you, too.
Garden Girl, I sure hope I get a compost thermometer, too.
Jo, thanks, I’ll do my best.
Merry Christmas everyone…
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
I love that your letter is really a gratitude list, an enumeration of all the goodness you experienced in 2008. I wish you all that much and more in the coming year (when I might even get the hang of Bloom Day and also show off my very sexy stainless steel scuffle hoe as well if there’s another hoe down…we shall see).
Dear Carol,
What a year it’s been! Rabbit wars, the longest winter, beautitul spring blooms and a great ugly tomato!
I’m sure Santa received your letter and a compost thermometer is surely loaded in the sleigh on its way to Indiana!
Happiest of holidays!
Gail
I enjoy reading through your summary–more than any other year I’ve been garden blogging 2008 seems packed with special events and it’s interesting to see them through your eyes. Just this time last year I was rushing around trying to put the Spring Fling site together and create a logo, wondering (with Pam, Diana, and Bonnie) if anyone would come and what we’d do if they did.
When you let Pam cajole you (along with Kathy Purdy @ Cold Climate Gardening) into being our special guest speakers, we knew Spring Fling would be a success–and it was beyond our wildest imaginings.
And then Twitter came into our lives and the entire dynamic changed again. Thanks for keeping us informed, inspired, and entertained on all these fronts. Best wishes in 2009.
A Merry Christmas to you as well, Carol. It was also nice to get acquainted with you and the many goings on at Maydreamsgardens.
We are so looking forward to your visit in Chicago next year.
Very nice post, Carol. I do admire those gnomes, too. Congratulations to on reaching your 1000th post, which I don’t think you mention here, unless I missed.
Merry Christmas!
Great letter Carol. Have a Merry Christmas.
It seems so long ago that Spring Fling happened. Hmm, that means we’re all overdue for another one, and soon. Looking forward to Chicago!
You’ve had an exciting garden-blogging year. As always, it’s a treat to follow your adventures at May Dreams. Merry Xmas, Carol!
I’ve only been blogging since October. I enjoyed clicking on some of your links and reading your letter.
Happy Holidays,
Sue
It’s been a good year, hasn’t it? Best wishes to you for a happy Christmas and plenty of gardening fun in 2009!