Christmas in Mississippi-Jacki Kellum Watercolor
about 7 Christmases ago, I painted 2 Christmas paintings — Christmas in Mississippi and 
Christmas in New Jersey – Jacki Kellum Watercolor
Collection of the Governor and First Lady of New Jersey
Both are pleasant paintings-in their own ways–but the paintings are vastly different. At that time, I was living in New Jersey, but I was captivated by my memories of having lived in Mississippi most of my life. That was the Christmas that I decided to come back home to Mississippi. Both paintings are pleasant, but only one is Home.
Jacki Kellum House in New Jersey – Photograph taken in late March
Note that the New Jersey painting is a snow scene. In New Jersey, it begins snowing early in November and the snows continue into late spring. I remember one time that it snowed in New Jersey on Easter Day.
In New Jersey, we celebrate Christmas with fake snow, but our excitement about that snow is not at all fake:
As I said at the beginning of this post, I decided to move back to Mississippi 7 years ago and yet, I was unable to move here right away. I spent several years batting around in the darkness–trying to get back home. But I am thrilled to say that I have finally arrived. What I did during the interim is fodder for another post, but today, I want to focus on one of the big differences between New Jersey and Mississippi — the growing season and/or the available days for gardening. You seek I enjoy brief interludes in the snow, but I love to garden almost every day of the year. While it is snowing in New Jersey, the ground freezes solid–there is NO gardening when that happens. In Mississippi, that rarely happens.
Last year, I created a video of myself working in my garden in Mississippi on January 12. Note that my roses were still green and budding:
Last year, I had created a video of my working in my garden on Christmas Day. This year, I again spent Christmas Day working in my garden. It was a glorious day.
On August 1, I had begun remodeling a studio space in the old, historic district of Water Valley, and by mid-November, I found myself swamped by one holiday event after another. The last of those events was on Christmas Eve, and before Christmas Day, I had barely breathed. My garden had gone to seed — LITERALLY. I had not even walked through my backyard for months. I could see that things were overgrown and dying, but I could not do anything to resolve the issues.
By Christmas Day, I was ready to leap into my winter garden chores. Three days later, I am still trying to resurrect my backyard, but I am basking in the fresh air and the reality that I finding a better balance in my life.
Winter Chores in My Garden
Winter Chore 1: Untangle and Get Rid of the Dead Morning Glory Vines in My Garden
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Jacki Kellum Garden October 24, 2021
For many years, I have religiously sowed morning glory seeds in my gardens every spring, and those seeds have never failed to produce, and yet, by early September, I always begin to wonder if this will be the year that my seeds will fail to become beautiful flowers. That does not happen:
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