My husband, Bob, and I are blessed with 16 grandchildren. Eleven of them are local and we get together regularly. For years and years there were mostly grandsons, but now we are blessed with five granddaughters, too! Over time, the grands have shown mixed interest in the rose garden (especially when it comes to the Christmas Rose). Cody, now 23, was a fine garden companion when he was little. When he was four and carrying the bucket for me while I was dead-heading the spent blooms, he suddenly realized I was going to throw the contents of the bucket in the trash and said, “What? You mean this is garbage? We don’t have garbage like this!! Grammy, you have BEAUTIFUL garbage!”

Kids in the Rose Garden

Christian (14) and his brother Austin (11) have spent a couple days a week with me over summer vacation for years. Austie has some allergies so sometimes being outdoors bothers him, but Chris loves to help me in the garden.

Chris waters, deadheads, and knows how to prune. He also pitches in with edging and throwing mulch around and is a really big help to me. I think he just may have his own rose garden someday.

The kids are all exposed to the seasons in the garden. All summer long when they come with their parents for family get-togethers, I make sure I leave plenty of spent roses in the Neighborhood Garden out near the street for when they depart. We live on a four-lane avenue, so everyone has to drive down the street, do a U turn, and come back up the road heading south. Bob and I always have double handfuls of rose petals to throw at them in salute as they drive by, and the younger kids just scream with delight.

Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving this year, our son, Chip and his wife, Jess, dropped off our littlest grandchildren. They were looking for a new-to-them vehicle and thought the girls would have more fun with us. Adele will be four in January and Emma will be two this coming April. They are Chris and Austin’s little sisters.

The day after Thanksgiving is always our pumpkin-chucking day with the little ones that are here. I always think some animal will munch on them and the seeds they contain. Emma is the littlest rosebud, and she jumped right in to help along with her sister, Adele. We walked down the steep hill to the second tier and fired away!

There was much laughter as we picked up the pumpkins that didn’t get too far and fired them off again! When we had exhausted our missile supply, Adele walked up the hill. This proved quite the task for Emma, so she came up on all fours like a bear cub. When she got to the top, she threw her little arms up in the air and yelled, ‘I dood it!’ They then went to dig in the mulch pile and I threw more rose petals up in the air for them to dance through.

Adele and Emma had a bucket of petals to throw about themselves. It was a lovely afternoon.

Christmas Rose

On December 12, I cooked a family Holiday Breakfast. Pancakes, French toast, eggs any style, you name it. It was really fun. My son Tom and his wife Maureen brought their four kids. My son Chip and his wife, Jess brought their four, as well. This was great for Adele because her cousin, Becky, is just two weeks older. Becky’s brother, Johnny, is full of beans and a lot of fun, too.

The older kids are pretty quiet and engrossed with their hand-held devices while the younger ones emptied out the toy closet. After breakfast, the parents left to do some shopping for awhile, so I kept my eyes on the kids while Bob escaped to the kitchen to clean up. I heard a clink in the parlor and ran in to discover that Adele and Becky were busy with a pretend-tea-party.

Coming back into the dining room, I was surprised to see 19-month-old Emma sitting on the table crossed-legged. She had taken three of the six roses in the vase out…two of them were lying on the tablecloth and she had one up to her nose, smelling it. She grinned at me and said, “Grammy! Frower! ‘Mell! Rose!” My son, Tom, walked in at the same time. We both saw her at once and laughter pealed through the air!!

Long story short, that breakfast lasted until 9:00 that night. When it was time to go, all my granddaughters asked to take a Christmas rose home. These roses were cleaned and de-prickled, so Rachel, Becky, Adele, and Emma got to take a rose home in a water tube!

There were lots of ‘I love you’s (Emma says, ‘I yuve you!’) and they were all on their way. Within an hour, I got a message on Facebook from Jess saying that Emma thoroughly enjoyed her Christmas rose on the way home. “She ate the whole thing!… oh, well,” she said. “Maybe it’ll make her poop smell better!”

I hope your holiday season has been full of wonderful times with loved ones…I know mine was! Here’s to a wonderful new year in the garden with loved ones and friends. See you in January!