hope dies last

THE VERY ESSENCE of a Christmas tree is a physical meditation of hope for the renewal that spring brings. Our world seems to be having a long, hard winter right now, but hope springs eternal, as it always does. We have to hold onto that with our loved ones and the friends in our lives that see the world as we want it to be, even when its not Christmas. This ritual of hope is embodied in The Decorated Tree.

THIS TREE, with woodland creatures, birds, stars, hearts and moons hidden in its branches embodies the magic of the season. Although it doesn't take anything this elaborate to find the spirit of Christmas, it can be as simple as a single candle, for us to reflect on what's important. The people in our lives, our special relationships with our pets, and remembrance of loved ones that are no longer with us, are all what makes the season meaningful.

I THINK I've achieved some of that with this tree. It may be one of my favorites because it is imbued with the hope and light of the season in a playful way— having a lot of delightful surprises scattered throughout. But the theme is consistent — a magical mix of things that could make even the hardest of hearts happy.

IT WAS A VICTORY of spirit for the world way back in late 1944 in the WWII Battle of the Bulge, and my brave father was part of it. During the wake of the Allied forces' successful D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, it seemed as if the Second World War was all but over. On Dec. 16, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor.

THE BATTLE that ensued known historically as the Battle of the Bulge was on, and the courage and fortitude of American soldiers like my father was sorely tested. Nevertheless, the the ultimate response meant the victory of freedom over tyranny (at least for many decades in this country).

I REMEMBER my father every year at this time. He told me how cold it was in the trenches in the snow-covered Ardennes forest in Belgium and how Patton was his hero because he saved his troop from the cold. That's why I continue with The Resistance in the battle we're now facing with the current presidential fiasco at hand.

AND SO, WITH HOPE, and my fight right here in our own country, my father's service won't have been in vain. The current political climate turns a blind eye to the fight of greed over goodness. Hope truly dies last, and I won't let history repeat itself if I can help, in my own small way, to put an end to it. America was great then, but it has become only a hollow slogan now, if we don't back it up with the best of our better angels. I intend to do all I can to make that happen. It's my way of keeping my father's spirit alive.

MY PARENTS instilled in me this hope at Christmas every year of my childhood and it made the strongest of impressions. So I'd like to part with this quote from Joan Winmill Brown: "When Christmas Day comes, there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes."

©2017 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland

a long winter's night

"I don't know what I may seem to the world, but as to myself. I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

—SIR ISAAC NEWTON

SQUIRRELING AWAY | We all know what squirrels do when getting ready for winter in gathering nuts, but this squirrel is saving a for abundance—the fertile pinecone. This sets the tone for the whole idea behind the tree.

FINDING THE EXQUISITE in my quest to adorn a tree that inspires me, and in the process, others, is a sometimes a formidable process of searching and seeking. As an art director, this is my modus operandi—my particular way or method of doing things.

COLLECTOR'S PALETTE | Once I decide on a theme for a tree, I hunt and sort through years of my collection to find the perfect combination of color and texture—sometimes buying a few new ornaments. While decorating the tree, I edit further as I carefully place each ornament in relation to the others around it.

THIS TREE brings together many pieces of many years of collecting, as I dug deep into my storage space this year to find the perfect palette of baubles to achieve the effect of a long winter's night, after I found a wintry flocked tree that spoke to me.

STAR SIGNS | The constellations in the night sky inspired Martin Luther to place the first lights on a tree in the way of small candles as legend would have it. A candlelit tree is like no other, but safety and convenience rule the day.

THE CHRISTMAS TREE has always been a ritual to conjure the following spring, just in case there has been an upheaval in the natural order of things, as it has this year. By Christmas day, we're several days past Winter Solstice and the nights are already becoming shorter and the days longer.

WINTRY MIX | Glass beaded Czechoslovakian stars, glass icicles and milky glass orbs combine to form a cool textural mix.

WINTER MAY BE the most unnerving season of them all because everything seems to seemingly die all around us. But the light of the universe keeps luring and coaxing life to burst forth again every year as spring arrives. This is why we celebrate Christmas the way we do. Whether it's the Christ Child, or just the human spirit, it matters not.

WINTER INTO SPRING | Starry winter nights become shorter as the spring encroaches with longer days.

IT'S QUITE MIRACULOUS how this happens, but we, still as mortal beings, feel the need to find a ritual that somehow seems a necessary process to usher things forward, even though we know we are not always the better for it in the short term. It's necessary to push through the bad, and to rediscover the good in the long term.

FUN FOREST | The proliferation of newer iterations of vintage-style bottlebrush trees in the past few years has been a welcome sight. Playfully-gathered on a cake stand, they create quite a presence.

THAT'S WHAT the Christmas holiday means to me and why The Decorated Tree has become an exquisite ritual for me—one that can "excite intense delight or admiration," as explained in The Oxford English Dictionary. My winter tree is always a meditation and an actual physical altar that represents the will to keep hope alive.

©2016 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland

 SPECIAL NOTE | This real silver tip tree has been flocked with an environmentally safe flocking material made from corn starch, boron, and wood pulp and is safe enough to compost after the holidays are over. (From Pike Nurseries in Atlanta).