If you missed it this year, the Natural Wreath Workshop sponsored by the GFWC Lilburn Woman's Club was held earlier this month, and if you look closely you can see many of these "works of art" hanging on front doors all around town.

The workshop is the brainchild of Mandy McManus, LWC's Conservation Program Chair and it is the second year that the club has sponsored this community event.

"We had such an enthusiastic turnout last year that the team all agreed we needed to do this again this year," said McManus.

The conservation department of the LWC is always searching for innovative ideas to either recycle or re-purpose existing materials and transform them into alternative usable goods.

Educating the community about practical environmental issues is second nature for these ladies.    

The concept for the workshop was modeled after the Williamsburg Wreath movement from the early 1930's.

When Colonial Williamsburg first decorated for Christmas in 1936, the greenery was confined to a few plain wreaths and some running cedar to hang about the Governor's Palace and the Raleigh Tavern.

Mrs. Louise Fisher was placed in charge of flowers and Christmas decorations and drove to the Library of Congress, where she turned up English and American pictorial examples to use as her guides. 

The first Williamsburg wreaths were made at home of natural materials such as holly berries clipped from a tree, seed pods collected from a nearby field, pine cones found on the forest floor, magnolia leaves pinched from the back yard, fans of apples, pomegranates, and perhaps even oyster shells gathered at the beach.

These decorations suggest a much simpler time when the Christmas holidays revolved around using the beauty of nature to welcome our loved ones into our homes and sharing our blessings with family and friends.

Perhaps this is the year to bring a few more natural decorations into our homes as well.

Happy Holidays.