Greens Day dresses Weston in Christmas finery

Weston is decked out in its Christmas finery.

Every year, members of the Weston Garden Club gather in the hall of the First Parish Church to make the town’s wreaths and garlands. Members craft the decorations and hang them on buildings along Boston Post Road and throughout town with the help of the Department of Public Works.

Last Thursday, the church hall was full of Garden Club members and bags of fragrant evergreens. People chatted and walked each other through the wreath-making process, stopping to show off pictures of grandchildren or to pour a cup of coffee.

Cynthia Chapra was at the front of the hall, making wreaths for Town Hall. She has been a part of the event for 15 years.

“One of the best things about Greens Day is we get to spend time together,” she said. “It’s always exciting to do something that enhances the community.”

Nancy Bates led a group at the table making wreaths for the Art and Innovation Center and the Department of Public Works. She has been a part of Greens Day since she joined the club around 50 years ago.

“It’s a fun tradition and I love making wreaths,” she said. “I used to bring my children out to see what I had accomplished.”

The youngest helper was napping at a table across the hall. Nicolas Francis, 3 months old, was with his mother, Natalie, who was busy wrapping greens into wreaths.

“This is very fun. It’s his first, but he’ll be a member,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful experience to see people and do something good that’s holiday-themed.”

The work begins weeks earlier, according to Cheryll-Anne Lane, the Greens Day chair. In the weeks leading up to the event, the club members gather the greens. The majority is yew and comes from town land, trails and people’s yards. One member’s son brought greens from a Christmas tree farm in upstate New York.

“It’s a bit stressful until we have all the greens we need,” Lane said. “Once we have that, it’s fun.”

On the day of, around 60 members of the Garden Club come together to deck the halls of Weston. They wrap bundles of greenery around metal frames, tie them together with wire and wrap another bundle on top to build the wreath. Once a Garden Club member finishes a wreath, she takes it to one of the tables lining the hallway. Linda Gillooly and Robin Reisman set to work affixing red bows to each of the wreaths.

Two hours into the day, Heather Mahoney, Sue Zacharias, Chris Martin, Joan Wilson, Tania Deary and Cathy Konover marched through the hallway and outside, holding a long garland. They carried it over rock salt and through the cold weather to decorate the watering trough across the street. Deary helped drape the greenery over the stakes planted in the dirt. Once a Weston resident, she now travels the 120 miles from Lenox to participate.

“I [would] come back for Greens Day, even if it [had] snowed 7 inches back home,” she said.

Back inside, almost 70 wreaths were piled high against the windows of the First Parish hallway. Garden Club members began to load them into cars and sweep up the last of the greens in the church hall.

A group of four women, including Greens Day Co-chair Holly Kulow, set out to hang wreaths on the windows and doors of the Josiah Smith Tavern and Town Hall.

“I love it,” said Kulow. “It’s a sign that the holiday season is here, and that in the darkest time of year there’s a reason to shine.”