Operation: Mistletoe! Feel the love!

What do you get when you cross the perfect Christmas gift with a symbol that represents the spirit of our wounded, ill and injured Warriors + Families?

A mistletoe ornament, of course!

SOWW's Limited Edition "Mistletoe Forest Ornaments" will be available at Old Luckett's Store Antiques in Leesburg, VA on Black Friday for donations of $25 or more. Only 100 ornaments are available, so get there early and please give generously.

The ornaments were hand crafted using mistletoe from the treetops of Bull Run Warrior Retreat to bring awareness to the community at large about the "home away from home" we are renovating for our recovering Warriors + Their Families.

Clusters of mistletoe hanging in the trees at Bull Run Warrior Retreat this past winter.

The "Mistletoe Forest Ornaments" feature red or gold hand-dyed silk ribbons and include the mistletoe lore in the packaging.  They are a beautiful, festive touch and make for a very traditional (or  very affectionate) Christmas gift.

Here are some interesting mistletoe facts from the label that will be fun to share with your family + friends throughout the holidays! 

It is easy to see why we thought mistletoe was symbolic of our wounded, ill and injured Warriors + Families.  Our Willing Warrior Families are the epitome of American Resilience.  Our vision is to provide a peaceful "home away from home" for them as they heal and mend from the seen and unseen wounds of war. Since mistletoe represents healing, peace + resilience, we were thrilled to find that it grew in the treetops above the house at Bull Run Warrior Retreat.  Surely, it was a sign!

Now let me share just a little more mistletoe madness. Below I have chronicled just what was involved in harvesting the mistletoe and making these classic ornaments!

We started early - before the autumn leaves had fallen. I had noticed the mistletoe in the trees last winter when it was easy to spot the round, green balls flourishing high on the bare branches. But trying to see it while the leaves were still up required a telescopic lens. Once I was sure there was enough to harvest, I snagged my tree-climbing husband to help out.

Mistletoe cluster high up in the branches at Bull Run Warrior Retreat.

Up my husband goes with a bag to pluck the dangerously high clusters off the branches.

Bull Run Warrior Retreat has such a glorious front yard!  It made for a majestic backdrop for harvesting mistletoe !

 

 

Some high winds had blown one branch down low and the mistletoe was hanging within reach.  Such a symbolic picture - a cluster of mistletoe hanging right above the retreat home.

Oops!  I mean, we had to test it, right?

After about an hour of Dan swinging from tree branches, we had collected a big basket of mistletoe to take back to my garden shed.

As we were leaving, some wild turkeys on the property began to gobble. We walked over to watch them strutting through some barberry bushes on the property!  Oooohhh!  Barberry!  So the pretty red berries were harvested as well to add to the ornaments.

Berried mistletoe curing in my garden shed.

Bull Run Warrior Retreat Barberries + Mistletoe

The mistletoe had to dry out a bit before the real work began of wiring it to hang suspended in glass ornaments.  Otherwise, the too-fresh leaves released some type of gas that clouded the clear ornament and turned it into a pearly gray color that was nearly opaque.

And so began long hours of sitting in my mistletoe'd garden shed with a space heater at my feet while I constructed the ornaments.  With the twinkling lights above and the soundtrack from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" playing as I worked, I felt positively like a Christmas Elf!  When my feet or fingers got really cold, or I started feeling stiff from hunching over the little glass orbs, I would just think about our Warriors and their American resilience . . . 

It warmed me up every time!

So Come to Old Luckett's Store Antiques on Black Friday and get your very own Mistletoe Forest Ornament!

Just Hang Them + Pucker Up!

For directions to Luckett's 

Click Here!