CHRISTMAS

TRADITIONS:

Master Gardeners share their love of the season



December 13, 2019



PHOTO COURTESTY OF PAT PLOWMAN/VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER

"A very special Christmas tradition for Pat and Don Plowman is their Snow Village comprised of village pieces like houses, stores and churches surrounded by hundreds of little accessories like people, dogs, cats, trees and shrubs as shown here.  It also has lighted neighborhoods, a snow-powdered downtown area, a farm and a ski resort with a moving ski lift and motorized train that circles around the village.  With this much landscape in several rooms of their home and with pieces collected from around the world and put into this snow village each year, it remains up and is enjoyed all winter.

Each week the Victoria County Master Gardeners have the honor and privilege to share their knowledge and expertise on gardening tips in this section.

Today and with this article, I would like to share some Christmas traditions from my fellow Master Gardeners and bring you into our homes this merry time of the year.

First, let’s take a look at what defines a tradition. It is a custom, belief or practice that is passed down through the generations – or that is done time after time or year after year.

So, here are several traditions in various Master Gardener homes in our community.

Plowman home traditions

A Master Gardener for over 20 years, Pat Plowman’s home is transformed into a winter wonderland for all ages.

• Worldly winter wonderland

Since 1986, she and her husband Don have traveled the world, bringing home memorable ornaments to be added to their snow village, Santa Claus and snowman collections. Pat completely packs away all her display photos, knickknacks, books and artwork from the shelves and cabinet, and then the week-long process begins creating her beautiful snow village and holiday decorating.

• Transformation of snow village

Completely transforming their office into a “vision of sugarplums,” she precisely sets up the large number of village pieces. With houses, stores and churches surrounded by hundreds of little accessories like people, dogs, cats, trees and shrubs, the village comes to life.

The village includes lighted neighborhoods, a snow-powdered downtown area, a farm and a ski resort with a moving ski lift. There is even a motorized train that circles around the village. With this much time and work that they put into making this room into a Christmas wonderland to behold, they enjoy it all winter.

To complete their holiday decorating, they have over 50 snow people, 30 Santa Clauses and 35 nativity scenes, with some pieces from different countries they have visited.

• Theme trees

There are five different trees, each with a special theme.

One has their children’s school art ornaments, accented with old ones, one with ornaments from their world travels, one to represent their hobbies, such as gardening, and one for miniature ornaments, as well as the traditional tree so Santa will know where to leave his gifts. What special memories to remember each year.

McCurdy home traditions

Mary McCurdy has been an active Master Gardener for 10 years. She is very fortunate to have her family close by.

• Family togetherness

Every year her family starts the season by attending midnight mass in Cuero. Christmas morning begins with a brunch that always includes tamales.

Surrounding her tree, decorated with traditional old ornaments, as well as handmade ones from her children and grandchildren, Warner, 9, and Weldon, 7, everyone anxiously awaits to see what Santa brought and then exchange gifts.

• Special tree ornaments

Mary and a group of friends have an ornament exchange each year and to her delight, enjoys looking back and remembering each one. To add to the grandkids’ excitement of Christmas, she fills a special tree ornament with candy – and who ever finds it first gets to eat all the treats.

• Winning the “Garfield the cat” gift bag

Now a tradition, a simple “Garfield the cat” gift bag has become the “winning” prize for whoever receives the bag that year for the McCurdy family.

Lee family traditions

As the Lee’s Christmas tradition, you would not be surprised to know it begins with our Lone Star State – Texas – themed tree.

• Texas red, white and blue

Since 2005, our tree is decorated with twinkling white lights and a collection of over 200 Texas ornaments. Each of the ornaments are the colors of red, white or blue. Every year the collection grows with an addition of the yearly Keep Texas Beautiful keepsake ornaments.

My husband, Harold, made our stocking tree from a 6-foot landscape timber painted red, attached to a round blue base with white pegs. Each of our four children, their wives, husbands and 11 grandchildren have a red, white or blue furry stocking to adorn the pole.

• Texas star, yellow roses and flags

The tree is topped with a red Texas star and is accented with yellow roses and small Texas flags as fillers. To complete our entry way, we hang 4-inch sparkling balls from ribbons on the ceiling. All gifts are wrapped in traditional Texas colors.

Bring back a tradition

While Christmas traditions seem to be fading with our families growing and being spread thin, stop and remember how special this time of the year was when you were a small child. Bring a special tradition or memory back to your family and have a very Merry Christmas, Y’all.

The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com, or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.