The Voice of East Bay Living

Wreath making is one of my favorite holiday activities. I begin in November collecting grape vines, wire frames, ribbons, and touches. I love to use a variety of pine branches, magnolia branches, hydrangeas and anything else that catches my eye. Often, I spray the finished wreath with very light layers of gold and silver for that extra pizazz. By the way, the world in French for wreath is  couronne  which means crown-Isn’t that just perfect? Here are some wreaths and holiday decorations currently decorating my house: Every year I decorate the California juniper in my atrium so that I never have to buy a real tree. The smaller artificial tree from Target is dedicated to our precious rescue poodle, Monsieur Jacques. We have added dog bone ornaments, snoopy Xmas lights, Scottish terrier ribbons and misc. Dog ornaments-mostly purchased on Amazon. Of course, Monsieur Jacques has numerous holiday outfits... Life is short—why not enjoy all the details!

The Hillside Gardeners of Montclair making Christmas wreaths at the annual holiday luncheon. Founded in 1947, there are currently ~120 members who are involved with many volunteer projects, including the maintenance of public gardens in Oakland. Email Sheila at ssabine@grubbco.com for more details.

Upcycle items that you already have to create beautiful holiday decorations. The wreath is made from plastic water bottles and old jewelry and the statue is decorated with sheet music.

To stimulate shopping in the commercial districts in Oakland during the holidays ,the city of Oakland is offering free metered parking every Saturday between Thanksgiving and New Year's day.The city will also provide up to two hours free parking at four city owned garages. Finally at long last, BART arrives at the Oakland Airport.The project began in 2010 and cost $484 million. It will officially open on Saturday, November 22. The Oakland airport BART station is located just across from the Terminal 1 baggage claim and a short walk from Terminal 2. The trains will run every 5 to 20 minutes depending on the time of day. They will go to downtown San Francisco, downtown Oakland, downtown Berkeley, and Walnut Creek.

A wonderful holiday event for children is the Mary Poppins musical currently playing at the historic Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley. Originally built as a church in 1908, it was built for two dollars a square foot, using natural redwood paneling , which was at that time, affordable and abundant. On the interior, the beams, nuts and bolts were left exposed as part of the design. The Mary Poppins cast does a great job presenting this Tony Award winning musical to its delighted audiences of all ages.  The performances will continue thru December 7th, 2014.

A delightful Rockridge treasure is Ron Morgan, one of our most talented Bay Area floral designers. He has a wonderful shop called Loot at 5391 College Ave., located across the street from the Rockridge Library in Oakland. I recently attended one of his floral design workshops where he magically creates masterpieces on the spot using a variety of materials and containers. Also, this Sunday from 12-5 he is doing a Xmas sale at his store to help you get ready for the holidays. "I am an artist painting with flowers."...Ron Morgan

One of my favorite holiday traditions is making wreaths from grapevines which I personally cut on a private Sonoma vineyard. I braid grapevines and then decorate the wreaths. I enjoy giving these personalized decorations as gifts to my loved ones.  Wreaths have a long history dating back to 776 B.C. when laurel wreaths were used to crown victors in Olympic Games  and as head ornaments for royalty. In more recent times, wreaths became adornments for front doors and walls during the holiday season.