The Gift of Another White

At Yule last year, I made an impassioned plea to the whole clan to entertain frugality in their holiday spending habits, telling them all that I would rather have a single Amaryllis bulb and a few packets of good tea under the Yuletide tree this time than anything else I could think of.

After so many years on this plane, the little blue house is chock full of "stuff", and I am always trying to prune things, rearrange things and create order out of the chaos of what one of my grandsons likes to call "a whole bunch of happy living". That exercise is ongoing and no small undertaking when one is something of a packrat and inclined to hoard everything from old birthday cards to bubble wrap, wads of tangled string and paper clips - there is always a small voice in the background telling me to hang onto items because I will surely need them a few days up the trail if I am so profligate as to turf them out. Being a member in good standing of clan MacLeod may have something to do with it.

Hallelujah, there was an Amaryllis bulb under the tree at Yuletide, and there were also several packets of lovely tea. The tea is long gone of course, but I started the Amaryllis bulb (a creamy white variety called Christmas Gift) at once, and it has been a gift each and every day since it moved into its earthy home in a south facing window. This morning I wanted to share the first incredible blooms with you.

The usual Monday morning haiku sequence is here.