Ah, we’re coming up on that time of the year again, when I start hawking the wares and various gift ideas and products offered by religious and charitable organizations. (Full disclosure: these Norbertine Sisters of Tehachapi, CA don’t know me from Adam, and this post generates no monetary kickbacks or material compensation of any kind, to me. )

How boring that thanks to this incredibly intrusive government, I’m going to have to keep writing that.

Anyhow…you’ll note the Dominican Nuns at Summit have come up with a nice little button for my sidebar, so I don’t have to keep linking you to their fine soaps and lotions, which so many of you have become hooked on. (Full disclosure: the Summit sisters know me well, and my enthusiastic promotion of their products generates no monetary kickbacks or material compensation to me, except for the delicious Christmas Stollen they sent me (and which I accepted on behalf of all of you -ahem) as a “thank you,” last December. No, I did not claim it on my taxes, but if the government would like to suction a bit of it from my hips, that would be fine.)

So, the Dominican Nuns are increasingly internet savvy, but the Norbertines, (warning, here come pdf’s) a newly-established and quickly-growing community are not yet up and running with a website. Despite that, however, they have gained a reputation over the past few years for making and shipping some superb Balsam Christmas wreaths:

We use 24-inch pre-made rounds with full fresh Balsam (Northern White Fir) pine boughs. Each wreath is made with 2-3 pounds of balsam greenery, and we adorn them with frosted and regular pine cones, along with a large custom-designed ribbon handmade by the sisters.

I understand the sisters ship their wreaths anywhere in the US, and they arrive very fresh and very fragrant. Here is a pdf link to their flyer. Sounds like a lot of happy customers on page 2.