The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: Our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2019

Inside: What would Christmas be without our favorite farm decoration? See what we did with our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2019 style!

Today we’re kicking off our annual 12 Posts of Christmas–twelve days of Christmas fun in the form of recipes, writings, DIY crafting, and more! And speaking of DIY projects. . . The mother of all DIYs for us at A Rural Girl Writes is our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2019!

A little background on what possessed us to spray-paint a tractor tire green and slap on a large bow. . . It started as a simple idea. Back in 2016 I spotted a tractor tire festooned with a large red bow on Pinterest and told Mom, “We’ve got to do this.”

And we did–the following year–as a tribute to my dad. But there’s much more to the story, should you want to read it. Since then this little (big) tire of ours has gone through a couple of versions (2017 and 2018), been visited by someone famous, and brought a lot of joy to people. Why, just yesterday our UPS guy said he was going to post it on social media. I’ve also been getting a huge number of hits for the story, which includes some basic how-tos, should you want to do something crazy like spray-paint a tractor tire green and slap a festive bow on top of it.

What’s New With the Wreath This Year

I’ve been singing, Buffalo gals can you come out tonight. . . All in honor of our buffalo plaid bow this year. I’m liking it–and thinking I need to break out It’s a Wonderful Life to watch this year, among other Christmas favorites. But I digress. . .

Tractor tire decorated for our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2019. — The bow’s the thing. . . Really liking me some buffalo plaid!

If you’re wondering what it takes to maintain the tire, we buy a can of spray paint to touch up the faded spots, wiping off any dirt first. (We store the tire outside year round.) And, of course, string the lights back on and attach this year’s bow of choice. Fortunately we had a day with no wind and 50-ish degrees yesterday to do the bulk of the work. But the tail of the bow wasn’t long enough, so we had to run to town and buy some buffalo plaid poly mesh. (Thankfully Michaels had some!) Today, the weather wasn’t playing nice, but Mom attached the final part of the bow quickly, I snapped a few pics, and we called it a day. Nothing like doing things last minute, right?

What Do You Think?

Like the latest version of our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath? So many folks are searching out the directions for our favorite farm decoration, and I’m starting to see more tire wreaths posted on the web. Does anyone have any pics or comments to share? We’re trying to come up with an easier way to attach the bow, so if you have any suggestions, please send them on. You know, so we’re not standing out in the cold, teeth chattering to the tune of “Jingle Bells” as we’re wiring the bow in place.

Have a Merry Christmas season! And stay tuned through Christmas Day for the rest of our 12 Posts of Christmas!