The hollies in our woods have a lot of berries on them this year.

Let me get through Thanksgiving first....I already have my Christmas shopping done...The berries are great and will add that special touch..

Wish I were that lucky..... I've barely begun ! :( Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Skippy.

Don't remind me about Christmas. I think it's gone mad.

I cannot wait for it to come and go, then we can look forwould to the lighter nights and spring just round the corner.

LOots of berries for you and the birds,lol

I agree with all of you ! ...LOL....

Can't make up my mind. Do lots of berries mean it has been a good summer or does it presage a hard winter? Our pyracantha has masses of berries this year, but the hollies near us don't have many at all. Suppose the weather will do what it will do regardless of old wives' tales! And in the UK the summer has been a wash-out this year.

I haven't heard the wife's tale about holly berries or pyrancantha berries Magnoliatree. Ours winters are judged by (old wives' tales), the amount of acorns on our Oak trees, and the stripes on the wooly worms. Legend says that the more black on a banded wooly worm, the more severe the winter will be. :-)

hmmmm saw a few wooly worms this season but never thought to take note...hope he's more brown than black!!! My dad used to say the mountain ash were a weatherglass... lots of berries...long hard winter...
Lovely holly bush! they sell it here brought in from BC and it's really expensive...I've seen holly bushes on sale at the nursery...but don't think they are hardy enough to survive too many winters here.

That's what I'm hoping for too Lori, But so far we have experienced record breaking lows already this season, so it's not looking too good for me.!

Really sorry to hear that, Flcrazy... imagine what the north will get if the south is already experiencing "record lows"... ohhhhh nnnoooo!

LOL..., Not looking to good for you is it ? I'd change it for you in a heartbeat if I could .

~i was told by someone recently that lots of berries mean a really cold bright winter instead of a wet one~ but when you think about it the berries are as a result of the weather that the plant grew through at the time it was flowering and the abundance of the insects who pollinated it~ so can't have anything to do with it?
Is that logic?or has logic got nothing to do with it!

I love your logic Arlene, sounds very reasonable to me. I always love to hear old wives' tales, but never put much stock in them. Though that might change the older I get...lol. I seem to get more nostalgic for the older, simplier way of life with age . Could be explained by the loss of brain cells the older I get too...LOL

~ to be fair I don't mind cold and bright rather than warm and wet which is so dispiritng !~ and yes I'm with you on preferring a slower,less violent time when no one had heard of global warming!

I'm with you Arlene 100% ! The news has gotton so depressing and violent lately, It 's all I can do to force myself to watch it.

~ the trouble is that with media communications they way they are the news flashes round the world in seconds~ I think that is half the trouble~`most situations are made worse by media hype! and the need to sell newspapers ~ie credit crunch!
Ah, don't get me started! It's midnight and must get to bed but I'm thinking of that lovely area where you live with your family and how lucky you are!
What do you do for Christmas ~one big family get together?

Hope you were able to get a good night's sleep Arlene.
For Christmas we get up early and open presents then we hop in the car and go to the top of the hill to my mom and dad's to open more presents, lol. Then me and my two brothers go back to our homes and prepare a few of our specialty dishes and have Christmas dinner at my parents house that afternoon. Then we lay around for the next hour of two complaining about how much our stomachs are hurting from pigging out ...lol. We've never learned how to eat holiday meals in moderation ! We're going to make pigs of ourselves tomorrow in fact for Thanksgiving holiday, this meal is just a precursor to Christmas dinner, practice makes perfect they say... ,and we've gotten very good at it ...lol.

~that sounds really nice~I love choosing and sending nice Christmas cards~make some myself~and it is my turn to do Christmas dInner this year for five of us~Turkey and all the trimmings and Christmas pudding with rum sauce!

Yummy......,you have my stomach growling already.....lol. Keep talking like that and you might have six for dinner !
Are your cards made from photos you have taken ?

How lucky we are that there is no scarcity of food! Hope you had a wonderful T-giving, Flcrazy! Re your comments about the berries indicating what kind of spring and summer we had, rather than a forecast of things to come...I think you are right on the money, Arlene! or perhaps it says more about the previous winter than the one we are heading into...aye?
Flcrazy:I love the old chestnut..."over the river and through the woods"...etc." do you go to your Mom's via a horse and sleigh? Now that's really Thanksgiving sentiment..lol. Christmas, for us, this year will be spent on the road...visiting. providing the weather stays mild and no freezing rain or huge dumpings of snow!! With the electronic age I think fewer people are sending Christmas cards via snail mail. I know I prefer to send email...and I'm in closer contact with family and friends via facebook and the internet than at any time in the past!.. I think I like that...but then again... sigh.

~i'm a lone voice in the wilderness i know~i like real cards and probably have all the ones we have received over the last forty years~takes up surprisingly little room~! even gorgeous satin ones!
Sometimes i have a look at things sent in the 60s with gentle humour,wonderful drawings etc rather than in your face sex, and wonder about progress!
In addition there are all those people involved in making them and the fact that most of the ones I buy are for specific animal and children's charities ,that is a big thing here in the UK.
So ladies I will be happy to send you a nice card if you can pm me with an address to send to!

Wow, thanks Arlene I would be delighted to have one ! I also save cards. I have all the birthay cards I've received for the last 15 years. My brothers give me some really humorus ones, lucky for them I have a great sense of humor ...lol. They really love to pick on me, being I'm the oldest.
Thanks Lori, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration, and yes I'm still hurting....lol. Sad thing is, I'll be eating again before bedtime !

~will be happy to oblige!
It sounds like a dress rehearsal for Christmas~never really understood what it is about?Thanksgiving for what exactly?Presents as well?