Time to spruce up your tree
You could devote every waking moment of the next three weeks to the study of holiday decorations and still not make a dent in the expanding universe of themed trees, hand-made wreaths and color-coordinated rooms. ¶ Spend some time browsing through the images on Pinterest and Instagram and you may encounter trees constructed from milk crates or driftwood, personalized stockings and tablescapes, and cascading strings of snowflakes that will turn a window into an interactive experience. Then there are the ornaments of 2016, offerings that are so rich and varied they would seem to fulfill every budget and personality type on the planet. You can decorate a tree or a room with ornaments made from candy (or made to look like candy), framed family photos, jewelry and laser-cut paper and wood.
Not all of us are that ambitious, of course; we pull out the boxes of holiday decorations from storage and unpack the things we’ve collected, inherited and received over the years: glass baubles, “Star Wars” figures, peacock feathers, a replica of the ruby slippers from the “Wizard of Oz,” and an embroidered fabric figure meant to resemble George Washington, purchased on a trip to Mount Vernon.
But even random collections need new entries — and Fortunately,your discerning we’ve friends done need some gifts.of the legwork already. Here (and on the cover), we’re sharing some of our favorite new ornaments, including a “Love California” and fused glass tree we found on Etsy, and the passport and paper deer from Cost Plus World Market. Shopping locally, we found a desert garden ball at the Huntington Library and artist Nathalie Cicurel’s cut glass ball with presents at Ten Women, located at 2651 Main St., Santa Monica. We scored big at Limonaia, located at 1325 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, and found the sock monkey, cupcake truck, dog with cat, Buddha globe and metal bear. Perhaps you’ll find something worthy of hanging next to C-3PO and Kylo Ren. Los Angeles Times