The Twelve Gifts for Gardeners

As a kid, I was always under the impression that the twelve gifts in the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", referred to the twelve days BEFORE Christmas.

I always thought the gifts were listed in the song as they were given to someone during the twelve days preceding Christmas and ending up with the Partridge in a Pear Tree being given on Christmas Day.

Imagine my surprise then as an adult to learn that in reality 'The Twelve Days' are actually the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day (December 25) and running through the morning of Epiphany (January 6) [the Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi.]

All of this occurring AFTER Christmas!

So... whether you want to use the list of gifts below like I would have as a kid or whether you want to use them in the "traditional" way of celebrating the twelve festive days beginning Christmas and running into the new year, here I offer you, to the tune of the last verse of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" ...

THE TWELVE GIFTS FOR GARDENERS

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:

Twelve Bags of Compost
Eleven Garden Gnomes
Ten Tulip Bulbs
Nine Packs of Herb Seeds
Eight Garden Notecards
Seven Soaker Hoses
Six-Piece Set of Tools
Five Iris Rhizomes
Four Pack of Gloves
Three Gazing Globes
Two Garden Forks
and a Gift Card from my local Garden Store!

ENJOY ... and Happy Holidays!!