One cool, crisp, fall night 4 years ago my mom, sister Rachel and I were walking to our car in down town Salt Lake City after attending the General Relief Society meeting in the Conference Center. We were walking along a sidewalk that was lined with trees...chestnut trees!
Growing up whenever my mom would pull out the fall decorations included was a bag of chestnuts that she would sprinkle here and there around the things in our home. One time I asked her where she got them and she said that years and years ago she had collected them while out walking. With a family and home of my own to decorate I wished that I had some of my own, but you can't find them in the store, you can only get them at a certain time of year, and I wasn't exactly going to drive around and test my luck at figuring out what a chestnut tree looked like!
So as we were walking along that beautiful night my mom sees the trees and just casually mentions that they are chestnut trees. "See the green spiky pods on the ground? If you break that open inside is a chestnut." NO WAY! I picked one up, broke it open, and to my hearts delight there was the smooth shell of a chestnut! With in seconds my sister and I were on our hands and knees cracking open pods and filling our purses with the nuts! I'm sure we looked hilarious crawling around in our skirts and we actually had several ladies also walking to their cars tell us that you can't eat these particular type of chestnuts...I didn't care...I wasn't going to eat them...I was going to keep them forever!
I LOVE the deep rich brown shades of color, I LOVE the smoothness of the shell, I LOVE the light cream spot that each nut has. I LOVE that each nut is a different size and shape.
After drying them out for a few weeks I soon had my own nuts to decorate with! My challenge was that I had very young kids that would surely want to touch them and put them into their mouths. So I bought a glass jar and filled it with my beloved nuts!
Every time I look at my lovely nuts I think of that cool crisp night. I think of my wonderful sweet mom and what a great home she created for me to grow up in. I think of how much I too wish to create a home like hers.
Now every year I pull out my fall decorations that include my very own jar full of nuts!
I LOVE it!
Growing up whenever my mom would pull out the fall decorations included was a bag of chestnuts that she would sprinkle here and there around the things in our home. One time I asked her where she got them and she said that years and years ago she had collected them while out walking. With a family and home of my own to decorate I wished that I had some of my own, but you can't find them in the store, you can only get them at a certain time of year, and I wasn't exactly going to drive around and test my luck at figuring out what a chestnut tree looked like!
So as we were walking along that beautiful night my mom sees the trees and just casually mentions that they are chestnut trees. "See the green spiky pods on the ground? If you break that open inside is a chestnut." NO WAY! I picked one up, broke it open, and to my hearts delight there was the smooth shell of a chestnut! With in seconds my sister and I were on our hands and knees cracking open pods and filling our purses with the nuts! I'm sure we looked hilarious crawling around in our skirts and we actually had several ladies also walking to their cars tell us that you can't eat these particular type of chestnuts...I didn't care...I wasn't going to eat them...I was going to keep them forever!
I LOVE the deep rich brown shades of color, I LOVE the smoothness of the shell, I LOVE the light cream spot that each nut has. I LOVE that each nut is a different size and shape.
After drying them out for a few weeks I soon had my own nuts to decorate with! My challenge was that I had very young kids that would surely want to touch them and put them into their mouths. So I bought a glass jar and filled it with my beloved nuts!
Every time I look at my lovely nuts I think of that cool crisp night. I think of my wonderful sweet mom and what a great home she created for me to grow up in. I think of how much I too wish to create a home like hers.
Now every year I pull out my fall decorations that include my very own jar full of nuts!
I LOVE it!
9 comments:
Oooh! I love it too!! What a beautiful decoration!! I love how love the dark brown. I'm sure those look really pretty in your house. You always do such a good job with your decorations! I hope Travis isn't hating life as much as Joe is right now because of the game. Ha ha ha...
those are lovely!! i might have to get my own jar of nuts. they are so beautiful!
I want some!!!
Those look so cute in your glass jar. And what a neat story behind them.
What a sweet story! Coincidentally, this last week, Kate, James, and I have been gathering acorns from the ground to save (hopefully forever). It's fun to see my children really get into it, picking up ANY acorn with or without its top still on, with or without it already being nibbled on by a passing squirrel or bug, and then stuffing a jaw-dropping amount into their little pockets. (When the kids aren't looking, I'll weed through the acorns and toss the gross ones out.) Reading your story made me realize how I'll treasure this memory of acorn gathering with my sweet children. Thanks for sharing.
Also, I just wanted to say how thankful I am that your Dad is okay. He has been in my prayers!
what a sweet story and lovely memory you have. I too have a soft spot for hazelnuts---something my mom taught me about them that I will always remember. YOur jar is cute.
love your jar! And such a great story. I think fall is my favorite season to decorate for. All the oranges, yellows, browns, deep reds!!!
Cute Heath! I have my jar too, but I have it up on my dresser in my bedroom as a constant reminder of the fun night and my sweet family!
As I was walking from meeting to meeting today on temple square, I noticed all of the chestnuts covering the ground. A couple actually stopped me and said do you know what kind of nuts these are? I responded,..."chestnuts." They were really excited and started to pick some up to start a collection of their own.
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