Lobsters & A-frames
After one counter-offer, the price for the property was agreed upon, and the work towards closing began. With a tentative date of December 30, that meant we would be owners by the new year!
My husband was remarkably calm as we arranged for account transfers between us to create the lump sum for fees and the ‘money down’ on our land. My daughters were excited - ready to go and start overseeing the build. I collated dozens of pins of A frame plans, woodsy cabins, and Maine gardens to my Pinterest account. The cat ignored us all.
Through December, my excitement kept building. We were going to own a piece of Maine - our very own piece of land!
Our traditional holiday gingerbread house (baked from scratch), was in the shape of ‘our’ A frame, with patio stone flagging and tiny shrubs outside. The doors and windows were in about the right spot, and it even sported a tiny rear chimney for the imagined woodstove inside.
The Maine Tree
The miniature house wasn't enough for me, though, so I ordered plain wooden cutouts from the folks at 24 Hour Crafts. We styled them with craft paints to create our own set of bespoke Maine ornaments - lobsters, mermaids, and lighthouses.
Yet somehow that wasn’t quite enough Maine mania, so I ordered a cookie cutter in the shape of the state, plus some air dry clay, and we made another set of ornaments. The idea for these came from the Down East Shop, which has amazing gifts made in Maine, by Maine artists.
Of course we needed an additional tree for all of our new art, so a second was set up in the bedroom, and we called it ‘The Maine Tree.’ Branches were topped with lovely blue starfish, which I’d picked up at a clearance sale years ago…
Each night, as we fell asleep under the glowing lights of our new tree, it was to cozy thoughts of our future vacation home on our own slice of Maine.
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