Merry Christmas from East Texas

We have been enjoying far warmer fall or early winter temperatures than normal. Here is a recycled photo from a few years ago. We tend to forget that this bloom is nearly a perfect copy of itself each year.
We have large numbers of paper white blooms and I need to haul some off to the nursing homes next week as residents get taken back after Christmas visits and will sit long hours during the coming winter in artificially lighted rooms.
It is just AMAZING how a simple, single bloom from a drab looking dried up bulb from this past summer can brighten our life even for a few moments in time. We often forget that each and every adult that we see on the streets at some point in their life, have been touched by the intoxicating scent of these blooms known simply as “Paper Whites”.
Each person has some locked away and forgotten memories of these bulbs, but a single touch, the sight or scent of this bloom will unlock that box and let out these cherished memories once again!
Not only have these bulbs captured the light and energy from last years sunshine but they also captured and stored the true beauty and spirit of mother earth. These are the direct clones from bulbs that have in years past been part of one distant family after another. These bulbs have crossed dry deserts, raging rivers and vast mysterious oceans, handed down from one person to the next.
These clones have bloomed in the gardens of royalty and by the door step of peasants. Some have been abandoned for generations only to be “rescued” to begin a new adventure, a new journey, a new destination with a new “family”.
They show no prejudice for religion or even a lack of religion! They are so comfortable with their own inner beauty that they refuse to change over the generations, even when the whole world is changing around them! We mere humans could learn a lot from the wisdom of these daffodils!
They sit quietly, patiently on store shelves at this time of the year while total chaos is in full swing at the check out counters. Don’t you just wish that these plants could remember and tell you about EVERY front yard and every person that has cared for them since the very first human bent down to pluck the very first stem to carry back to their “clan” to share this exquisite beauty with another human!
Who do you suppose was the very first person to discover that this bloom has such a sweet aroma? Did they try to eat the very first bloom that they found? Who was the very first person to dig up and “rescue” one of these bulbs?
We are few in number but we can each share a “Gift” that will never grow old, that will never tarnish that will gently perfume and sweeten the very air that lingers around us and those we love.
This is a gift that is better shared and passed on from generation to generation so that the “miracle” of this transformation and the memories created will live on and on.
May you find Peace, Joy and Love but most importantly, share what you find with those who are still searching!
Keith, Sandy and Shawn Kridler