Christmastime

 

Christmas time is here

Happiness and cheer

Fun for all that children call

Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air

Carols everywhere

Olden times and ancient rhymes

Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air

Beauty everywhere

Yuletide by the fireside

And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here

We'll be drawing near

Oh, that we could always see

Such spirit through the year

Oh, that we could always see

Such spirit through the year...

Christmas Time Is Here from A Charlie Brown Christmas

Words by Lee Mendelson and Music by Vince Guaraldi

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs and I enjoyed listening to it while making this basket. I love making Christmas baskets and draw a lot of inspiration from the sights, sounds and smells of this special season. I make many of my Christmas baskets a season ahead for retail sales, but I always try to make a few during Christmas time. Even though pine needle baskets take many hours to complete, I welcome the peacefulness that they bring while working on them at this time of year.

I used sweetgrass on the inside of this basket and it was the first time that I have used sweetgrass in a basket. Sweetgrass has been used in baskets and other items by the Native Americans for centuries, so I am not sure why I haven't used sweetgrass before this. Also, I have admired and collected Gullah sweetgrass baskets ever since my mother-in-law introduced me to them many years ago. The combination of the sweet vanilla scent from the sweetgrass and the pine scent from the pine needles is amazing and it smells like Christmas! I will definitely be using more sweetgrass in my future baskets.

I used dyed green and red Long Leaf pine needles, brown artificial sinew, sweetgrass and a beautiful holly pottery base to make my "Christmastime" basket. Enjoy!

P.S. I purchased the wonderful sweetgrass from Vicki Loiseau who grows it herself in her garden in Ellensburg, Washington. You can purchase sweetgrass from her Etsy shop LaWho Design by clicking here. The beautiful pottery basket base was made by Pamela Zimmerman (click here to go to her Etsy site).