Tis the Season To Be Jolly

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly fa la la la la la la la” Do you like that one too? When I was a young girl, whenever I heard that Christmas carol, I had always been curious how boughs of holly looked like. All I knew before was that we used to scrunch pieces of paper into small marble sizes and wrapped them with red crepe papers that we wired to green spiked edged elliptic shaped paper leaves-and voila, we had an instant holly plant for Christmas décor in a tropical country.

That wasn’t hard. You can try that yourself especially for children’s art activities.

But ever since I moved to a place where temperatures go below zero, it’s a great relief that during Christmas, I save my fingers from crumpling pieces of newspapers and few bucks for red crepe papers since holly plants here are real.

And they look absolutely gorgeous!

As I got enthralled not only with the Christmassy tune of the song, but with the endearing Holly plant as well, I went few steps further than just admiring a pot of Holly shrub that I bought from a plant nursery- I researched more about them.

And here’s what I found out.

According to a site called piglette.com, the Holly plant’s evergreen nature made it so special during Christmas. The Druids of the Celtic Society used Holly for head dresses while brandishing the beauty of red berries on their heads since they represented the sacred blood of their goddess.

During the Roman period, they used Holly to decorate their houses as it symbolized kindness and friendship. In fact, the pagans during this period left Holly plant outside their homes because of their belief that fairies sought Holly Shrubs as shelter during the cold temperature of winter. (Now, since I’ve got a pot in my balcony, I’m expecting a slew of Tinkerbells to fly around at night.)

For Christians, holly became a symbol of Christmas with its sharp edged leaves that bespeak of Christ’s thorns and red berries for His precious blood. In essence, holly represents peace, joy, friendship and good cheer.
Now that we know that there’s more to holly’s beauty than meets the eye, next time, you’re buying Christmas plants, don’t just pick poinsettias- grab a pot of holly too.

Holly plant is more than just a bunch of sparkling dark red berries sprucing up our balconies or end corner of the living room. With its real meaning, it awakens us to open our hearts and homes to the needy during this time of the year.

Let me assure you that not only that holly’s sparkling glory can make you smile in a cold winter morning, but these little bright red balls with evergreen leaves can also make you sing fa la la la la la la.