16
Dressing the House
Most people refer to getting the house ready for the holidays as decorating, as I did until I developed a fondness for a wonderful carol by Alfred S. Burt called “We’ll Dress the House.”
Whether you decorate simply or get your home all dressed up for the holidays, there are many ways to do it with grace and elegance, and without spending a lot of money.
Quick as 1, 2, 3
You have little time and even less money to dress the house for the holidays. No problem! Use what you have and concentrate on only three areas.
The front door. Drape a garland intertwined with twinkle lights, hang a wreath, and you’re done.
The table. Start with a tablecloth, runner, place mats—anything festive and beautiful. Add a big centerpiece. Set the table with the best things you own. Get out the china and crystal. Go all out and reset after every meal.
The mantel. Remove everything. Start with any kind of greens (pine, magnolia, etc.). Add candles, ornaments, ribbon, cards, and something red—Christmas balls, apples, pomegranates, candles, or fabric.
Note: If you do not have a mantel but you have a staircase, make that your third area of concentration.
“Due to your lack of discipline and consistent disregard for your credit limit . . . you have been selected customer of the year!”
O Christmas Tree
As tempting as a pricey, artificial, pre-lit Christmas tree may be, few things about the holidays are as satisfying as a fresh, real Christmas tree. Or as pathetic as a tree that turns brown, loses its needles, and looks like a sorry mess with weeks to go before Christmas morning.
By following the tips below, you have every chance of your tree retaining its fragrance and looking great right through New Year’s!
To check the freshness of a tree, gently grasp a branch between your thumb and forefinger and pull it toward you. Very few needles will come off in your hand if the tree is fresh. Shake or bounce the tree on its stump. You should not see an excessive amount of green needles fall to the ground. Some loss of interior brown needles is normal and will occur over the lifetime of a tree.
The best secret for keeping your tree fresh is water, water, water. Once you get your tree, cut ¼ inch off the end and put it immediately into water. Be sure to store your tree in a cool, shaded place out of the sun, such as a covered porch or garage, until you are ready to bring it into the house. Never let your tree run out of water.
If a tree is properly watered, it should stay fresh for two to three weeks. The National Christmas Tree Association does not endorse the use of an additive to the water. Your tree will stay fresh with just plain water.
Within four to six hours of being cut, the tree will form a sap seal over the stump and it will not absorb water. If you forget to make a fresh cut before you set up and decorate your tree, do this: Remove the water from the stand (use a turkey baster). Drill holes into the side of the trunk below the water level. Immediately refill the stand with water, making sure none of the holes are above the water line.
When choosing a tree stand, the most important characteristic is water capacity. A good rule of thumb is one quart for every inch in diameter of a tree’s trunk. For example, the average six-foot tree has a trunk with a four-inch diameter, so the tree stand should hold one gallon of water. You should also make sure the stand fits the tree. If it is too big or too small, the tree could tip over. Never trim the sides of a trunk to fit in a stand.
Know your trees. Balsam and Fraser fir are strong and fragrant and hold their needles well. Scotch and white pine are the most popular and least expensive trees. They retain needles through the season and have a good scent, but they can’t support many dangling ornaments. Spruce trees have sharp needles, but they’re good for holding heavy ornaments.
Buy a living tree to use for the holidays and then plant it in your yard or donate it to a local park or forest once the Christmas season is over. First call your state or local parks and forestry commission to find out where the tree can be planted after the holidays. Other organizations that might enjoy a new tree to add to their landscape are libraries, churches, or schools.
Many states have designated forest areas where you can cut your own tree, provided you have secured a proper permit. Other areas have commercial Christmas tree farms where the kids can help choose and cut the tree. (Typically, it’s no bargain, but when combined with a family outing, it might be worth it.)
The National Fire Protection Association tracks fires and their causes. According to their data, real Christmas trees are involved in less than one-tenth of 1 percent of all residential fires. Sensational blazing trees on the evening news are often doused in a flammable liquid or are very old and dried out.
If the nostalgia of a fresh, fragrant tree is not reason enough to go natural, consider these facts:
- Artificial trees will last for six years in your home (got storage space?) but for centuries in a landfill.
- Two to three seedlings are planted in the US for every harvested Christmas tree. A total of seventy-three million were planted in 2006 alone.
- Fifty-nine percent of real Christmas trees harvested are recycled in community programs, providing mulch for landscaping and replenishing the earth’s soil.
All Lit Up!
To make your tree sparkle, use lots of miniature lights. To figure out the minimum number you need, multiply the tree’s width in feet by eight, then multiply that figure by the tree’s height. For example, a four-foot-wide tree that’s five feet tall would require 160 lights (4 × 8 = 32 × 5 = 160).
Attach strings of lights from the bottom up. Concentrate them on the bottom two-thirds of the tree and then gradually thin them out toward the top.
If your tree is loaded with a mind-boggling collection of ornaments, limit the lights to one color to help tie everything together. If decorations are sparse, lights in a variety of colors and shapes will help fill things out.
Attach lights first, garlands next, then ornaments. Work from the inside out when hanging ornaments. Put some large, shiny ones on the innermost branches to reflect light and eliminate dark spots.
Trimming Your Tree
It’s easy to make clay ornaments, and cheap too. In a saucepan, stir together 2 cups baking soda and 1 cup cornstarch. Add 1¼ cups water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is the consistency of moist mashed potatoes. Turn out on a plate and cover with a damp cloth until cool enough to handle. Roll to ¼-inch thickness. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Use a drinking straw or toothpick to make holes at the top of each ornament. Allow them to dry and harden on a flat surface overnight. Paint, decorate, and then protect them with a shiny glaze.
To brighten the center of a tree, wrap the trunk with foil or garlands of gold tinsel.
Hang your most attractive ornaments at eye level on the outermost branches.
If you don’t have a huge collection of ornaments, fill out the tree with Christmas cards, candy canes, ribbons and bows, tinsel, and snowflakes cut from paper doilies. Tiny boxes covered with gift wrap can look surprisingly elegant. Hang gingerbread men, cinnamon sticks tied with bows, and seashells. To add glitter, hang walnuts, pinecones, bay leaves, or blown eggs painted gold or silver.
Experiment with different tree toppers: a china doll dressed in her Sunday best, a big fluffy gold lamé bow, or a bouquet of dried flowers.
Bend medium-gauge wire into the shape of a heart or wreath, then thread with popcorn or cranberries. Top with a bow.
Cut out pictures from magazines, greeting cards, or wrapping paper and glue them to circles of construction paper or cardboard. Attach loops of ribbon to the backs and hang them on the tree.
Help very young children make Christmas ornaments out of red and green pipe cleaners. Twist them into the shape of candy canes, stars, and trees and hang them on the tree or use them to decorate packages.
Cut the bottom out of a plastic berry basket. Cut it into the shape of a snowflake, coat it with glue, and dip it in glitter.
Draw stars and snowflakes in varying sizes on wax paper with white glue that dries hard (such as Elmer’s). While the glue is still wet, sprinkle it with glitter. Allow the glue to dry for two days. Then, starting at the points and working in, carefully peel away the wax paper. Hook the stars and snowflakes over the branches of the tree.
String cranberries on thin wire, heavy nylon thread, or fishing line to make garlands.
String popcorn garlands with stale popcorn because it’s easier to handle.
Let kids make paper snowflakes out of white or silver paper. Fold paper into eighths and cut designs into all three sides of the wedge. Each one will turn out differently. Attach a ribbon loop to the back or just tuck the snowflakes into the tree branches.
Cover small Styrofoam balls with white glue and attach fresh cranberries. Allow to dry, attach a ribbon, and hang on the tree.
Make paper ornaments out of cardboard. Trace cookie cutter shapes or draw designs freehand. Color the shapes and cut them out. Punch a hole at the top and pull ribbon or string through the hole for hanging.
Any recipe for crisp, rolled cookies can be used to create edible tree decorations. Simply roll and cut the cookie dough as usual, but before baking, use a drinking straw to make a hole near the top of each cookie. (Repeat if hole closes up during baking.) When cookies have cooled, thread ribbon through the holes.
Save plastic, fruit-shaped lemon- and lime-juice squeeze bottles. Rinse out the containers and let them dry. Thread a six-inch piece of yarn or ribbon through the loop in the lid (or if there is no loop, tie the yarn around the cap) and hang on the Christmas tree.
Create a gift tree. You’ll need small boxes of all sizes and shapes (empty Jell-O boxes are perfect), wrapping paper, and coordinating curling ribbon. Depending on the size of your tree, you’ll need thirty to fifty small, empty containers. Wrap each with paper and curling ribbon. Tie the “gifts” to the tree, placing the small ones at the top and the larger ones at the bottom. You can use different patterns of wrapping paper or wrap every gift in the same paper and ribbon. This is especially dramatic with gold or silver foil packages and small white lights.
Thread polystyrene peanuts for garlands.
Save all the toys your kids receive during the year with fast-food meals and use them to decorate a small artificial tree just for the kids. Tie the toys on with ribbons, but allow the kids to take off the toys and play with them. This will help make your fancy tree with fragile decorations a little less tempting.
Place star, tree, or other holiday stickers back-to-back along a wire or ribbon. Wind it like garland through the branches of the tree.
Tie bows all over the tree.
Instead of a traditional evergreen tree, bring a potted tree in from the garden or terrace for the holidays, or decorate an indoor plant or tree with small ornaments. Small red ribbons on a Norfolk pine, masses of white lights on a ficus, or any plant covered with colorful popcorn and cranberry garlands can be very festive.
Decorate a tiny live tree with fruit ornaments and ribbon and set it on the kitchen table or countertop.
After the tree is undecorated and ready to be thrown out, strip off all the needles. (Make sure you wear gloves.) Then put them into a pillow slip and cover it with a pretty pillow cover. The scent will last all year and will keep the spirit and anticipation of Christmas alive.
House Dressing
Have you ever noticed that our eyes become mercifully selective once our homes are dressed for the holidays? The slightly worn carpet and tired sofa seem to disappear when upstaged by even the simplest decorations.
Likely, you already have more than enough materials in your drawers, attic, and yard to turn your home into a warm and attractive setting for a holiday celebration. What you need are some great idea starters. And I’ve got some great ones for you.
Candles are a simple and natural way to decorate for Christmas. If all you have are pine-tree greenery and candles, you have all you need. Use candles lavishly and light them as often as possible. Nothing will turn your home into a softer, more beautiful place faster than candles. Never, ever leave candles burning unattended. If you leave the room, always extinguish open flames before you go.
Line your walkways, driveway, or other areas on your property with luminaries made from paper bags filled with two inches of sand and a votive candle in the center.
Make luminaries that can be kept from year to year. Rinse out a tin can and pinch all rough edges flat and smooth. Fill the can with water and freeze. When the ice is solid, remove the can from the freezer. Using a permanent marker, draw designs around the sides of the can, making sure the design does not come within one inch of the bottom. Place the can on its side on a towel so it won’t slip. With a nail and hammer, punch holes along the design lines you’ve drawn. Leave about a half inch or so between each punch. Then allow the ice to melt and drain. Place a votive candle in each can and line your walkway. Light your luminaries every night during the holidays.
Little ones will believe Santa was actually in their home if you make boot prints with baking soda. Just dampen the bottom of a pair of boots, dip them into baking soda, and make tracks leading from the chimney to the tree and then to the cookies and milk. Make sure the cookies and milk are properly consumed. The baking soda will vacuum up easily.
Display an assortment of great family Christmas pictures from years past in a special photo album or in a location where your family and guests can enjoy them.
Decoupage a serving tray with last year’s Christmas cards and set it on your coffee table.
Make golden angels by gluing silk-leaf wings and a hazelnut head to a pinecone, then spraying them with metallic paint. If you don’t have silk leaves, cut leaf shapes from cardboard.
Buy a big candle for the dinner table. Light it every night at dinner during the holidays.
Make miniature Christmas trees for a great holiday family activity. Glue the wide ends of sugar ice-cream cones to a large sheet of cardboard. Spread green icing over the cones and then decorate them with assorted candies such as M&Ms, gumdrops, and Life Savers. Let the kids come up with new decorating ideas for the “family forest.”
For an instant table dress-up, heap shiny Christmas balls of all sizes in an elegant glass bowl. Place the bowl near candles and allow the light to bounce off all the shiny surfaces of the centerpiece.
Wrap a tinsel garland around the bedroom or bathroom mirror.
Arrange poinsettias in a bare corner and tie big, bright bows around the pots.
Don’t know how to fill the stockings hanging by the chimney with care? Fill them with stockings! Everyone loves argyles, tube socks, running socks, or knee highs. Stockings filled with stockings are fun and practical.
Instead of decorating the outside of your home to please your kids, decorate each child’s room to get them excited about the holidays. Help your children make red and green paper chains from construction paper to hang all over their rooms. Not only is this activity less time-consuming than attempting a big exterior display, but it may also establish a special tradition your children will not forget. Plus, you won’t have to say “Time for bed!” twice when your child can nestle among the enchanting lights of his or her very own bedside boughs.
Wrap your child’s bedroom door with wrapping paper to transform it into a giant package.
Place white twinkle lights on your large houseplants.
Hang mistletoe in every single doorway of your house.
Frosted fruits are a delicious-looking centerpiece and are simple to make. Simmer apple jelly with a little water, let it cool, then brush it over fruit. Roll the fruit in granulated sugar to coat.
Put Christmas lights and a small wreath on the dog’s house.
Gold, one of the gifts the wise men carried to Bethlehem, is a symbol of generosity. For a truly glittering Christmas, recycle miniature pumpkins and squash left from Halloween and Thanksgiving and spray them with gold paint. Place them throughout the house or use them in centerpieces, garlands, and topiaries. Gild walnuts, pinecones, bay leaves, dried flowers, apples, pomegranates, pineapples, lemons, and grapes. Wear gloves, a dust mask, and glasses or goggles when spraying.
For just the price of wrapping paper and ribbon, you can decorate your entire home in a truly spectacular way. Gift wrap all the framed pictures and paintings on your walls. The effect is stunning. Tip: Wrap only the fronts and sides and you’ll use less paper.
Decorate the guest bath by wrapping a tissue box like a gift.
Sew small brass jingle bells along the hem of a tablecloth.
Increase the effectiveness of votive candles by placing them on squares of mirrored glass.
Lay sprays of evergreens on the mantelpiece, thread a string of white lights (on green wire) through them, and nestle some of your collectibles or Christmas balls amid the greens. If you have no evergreen in your yard, find a friend or neighbor who will allow you to clip some of theirs.
Cover the mantel or a wide windowsill with a bed of Spanish moss. Tuck in ivy, holly, pinecones, and a few gilded nuts and fruits.
Pile red apples on a bed of evergreen and tuck in some tiny Christmas balls.
Drape a long rope of greens (tied together with narrow-gauge wire) over the front door. Attach a red velvet or satin bow in the middle and weave matching ribbon through the garland like a streamer. As a finishing touch, place a poinsettia plant on each side of the doorway.
Hang your holiday wreath on a four-inch-wide silk ribbon on a mirror in your entryway or over the mantelpiece.
Fill a basket with large pinecones interspersed with clusters of delicate baby’s breath. Thread tiny white lights throughout, hiding the wires under the pinecones.
Hang extra mirrors around the house during the holidays to add to the glow and to multiply the special effects of your decorations.
Wind strands of white Christmas lights and greens around the banister. Add large plaid bows.
Place a poinsettia or flowering plant on every step of a staircase to peek through the banister.
Tape, tie, or staple Christmas cards to ribbon streamers to hang for display.
Put several different sizes of poinsettia plants in cache pots or baskets and add trailing ivy.
If the kids’ rooms, basement, or spare rooms are always a mess, just close the doors and hang wreaths on them.
Fill a glass container with holiday candy and top with a lid or a circle of gift wrap or foil. Tie with ribbon and set on a table.
Decorate doors with Christmas trees cut from foam board. Pin, tape, or glue on bright ornaments and garlands of beads.
Paint a bright red bow on a doormat. Add a painted tag with the family’s name.
Make a gumdrop wreath. Either buy a Styrofoam wreath or cut one out. Use toothpicks or stiff wire to attach red, white, and green gumdrops to the wreath or use multicolored ones to resemble Christmas tree lights. Top off the wreath with a big bow.
Fill a large glass bowl three-quarters full of water. Place small, flat-bottomed candles such as tea lights in aluminum foil muffin tin liners and gently set them afloat in the water. Light them carefully and enjoy.
Use crystal or cut-glass bowls of different sizes to make a holiday arrangement. Fill one bowl with Christmas balls—either place them upside down to hide the hangers or tie a small bow on each. (This is a great way to use ornaments that are damaged.) In another bowl, combine fresh fruit with evergreens. In a third bowl, add holiday-scented handmade or purchased potpourri. Place votive candles in small bowls.
Try a wreath centerpiece. Core five apples, making a two-inch-deep hole at the center of each to hold a candle. Lay a wire wreath frame on a flat surface and attach the evenly spaced cored apples with a glue gun. Arrange cedar, spruce, and holly sprigs in one direction along the wreath and wrap in place with fine wire. Attach small pinecones with a glue gun and insert tall, tapered candles in the apples.
Create a fruit centerpiece. Tie individual oranges (lemons, limes, or apples will also work) with ribbon and then stack them into a tree shape on a pedestal plate.
Set out pretty containers of pine, evergreen, or cinnamon potpourri in every room.
Keep plenty of throws and afghans around the living room. They look great and invite people to curl up and get cozy.
Display all your holiday cards so they add to your home’s decor. Find a piece of string that is just a bit longer than your front window and attach the ends to either side at the top of the window. Hang the cards from the string by folding them over the string so the front of the cards face out. Once full, the string will drape ever so slightly to give a beautiful valance effect across the top of the window.
Hang wreaths on the inside, as well as the outside, of your doors.
Make pomander balls. Buy a supply of whole cloves (they’re expensive at the supermarket; try a health food store that sells spices in bulk) and some oranges. Insert the cloves into the oranges (you can poke holes in the rind using a small knitting needle). Wrap the pomanders with red ribbon and hang them around the house.
Rather than buying new decorations, refurbish old ones. Give life to a wreath by adding fresh ribbon. Glue glitter on faded ornaments. Make it a personal creative challenge to decorate with only those things you already have in the home.
Go back to old standards such as popcorn and cranberry garlands and construction-paper chains.
Outdoors
If you’re fresh out of oversized Santas for the yard and have no snow for snowmen, make a family of broom people to warm the hearts of passersby. Stick the broom handles into the lawn. Cut white circles for eyes from felt or white cardboard and draw black dots in the centers for the pupils. Glue these eyes to the bristle part of the brooms. Top with real hats and ear muffs; tie scarves around the handles. Let your imagination go wild, not your pocketbook.
Tie outdoor lights to trees and posts with strips cut from the legs of old pantyhose.
Surround window frames with greens and strings of outdoor lights.
Hang ornaments cut from foil pie plates on a tree or bush near the house and watch them sparkle.
When our son was only three, we wanted to make sure he grew up knowing the reason we celebrate Christmas—Jesus’ birthday. His response? “Where’s the cake?” This sent me scrambling to see if I had any cake mix, as it was Christmas Eve and most stores were already closing for the holiday. All I had was a carrot cake mix, so that is what we made.
To this day, not only do we make a birthday cake for Jesus each Christmas Eve, but it has to be a carrot cake. Our son, much older now, does all the decorating, and it is fun to watch how his creativity grows with each passing year.
Jeanette L., email
We make a game of hiding Mary and Joseph (as they are traveling the long journey to Bethlehem) at night when the children are sleeping. Every morning the kids have to find them. On Christmas morning, they are in the stable with Jesus in the manger. This game helps keep the holidays fun, and the anticipation builds for the arrival of Jesus.
Pat C., email
The year was 1991. My favorite book in the world was and still is How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Macy’s was selling a stuffed Grinch for five dollars with every fifty-dollar purchase. My dad didn’t have much money, and he couldn’t afford to spend the fifty dollars, but he really wanted me to have the Grinch as a special present. For days he went to Macy’s and asked customers with shopping bags if they had gotten their five-dollar Grinch—and if not, could they turn in their receipts so he could get the Grinch for his daughter. He finally found a customer who was willing to help him. It was a wonderful surprise and a great story. The Grinch still sits on my bed to this day. Now the story has even more meaning for my son, who is quite taken with my very own Grinch.
Jennifer G., email