fresh red cedar garland

If you love fresh greens in your home during the holidays as much as I do, you need to run, don’t walk, okay just drive, to Trader Joe’s.

They have their red cedar garlands available and just like all the holiday stuff at TJ’s, they won’t be there long. And speaking of long, they are about 8 feet long and cost $7.99. Shop around and you’ll learn what a deal that is.

If you’re saying to yourself, “But Linda, if I buy them now as you suggest, they will be like peanut brittle by Christmas.” Nope, not if you treat them right. Here is what I did last year and they looked good right up to Christmas day.

I brought them home and soaked them in tubs of water for about 36 hours. Then I spread them out, undercover in the shade to dry for another 12 hours. I turned them over and let them continue to dry for another 8 hours.

Next, I sprayed them thoroughly with a magic product called Wilt Pruf. You can find it on Amazon. Then I hung them up over doors and windows and used them down the center of my holiday tables. I didn’t blog about this last year because I wanted to make sure the Wilt Pruf worked. Since it did, I’m sharing now.

I purchased my red cedar garlands on Wednesday. I also snagged this sweet swag, took off the bow and it is soaking along with the garlands. Everything is done soaking, so I’ll be drying them for the next 24 hours, then spraying them thoroughly. They will be hung over the weekend. Get yourself to Trader Joe’s before I decide I need more!

Only one of the seven I found had all these baby pinecones on it. I feel like I NEED more like this, so consider yourself warned before I run out, okay drive, and buy them all!