Are you ready to simplify your holiday decorating?
December has arrived and for many people, the calendar change heralds the start of a month of frantic decorating, gift-shopping, present-wrapping and holiday baking – in short, a wearying list of tasks to prepare for the big day.
While many of you have been busy over the past week with Hanukkah celebrations, others are gearing up for Christmas – and many of us, I’ve discovered, are yearning to simplify our decorations, focusing instead on gathering, safely, with friends and family over cups of cheer.
While there will always be those who prefer an over-the-top holiday – especially in houses with wee ones – some folks are simply over the effort it takes to get that enormous Christmas tree decorated to the very nines. They’re also past the days when a candle had to appear in every window.
Yes, Christmas decorating can be exhausting, but there are ways to keep it simple and enjoyable.
It is fun to have a decorating-the-tree party. Susie Phipps Cochran and Bob Eigelberger are famous in Palm Beach, Florida, for hosting such a gathering. The tree decorating part of their party actually takes over an entire room.
I am a lot like Susie and Bob – a Christmas ornament junkie. Unpacking the ornaments each year can bring back so many memories. I have bought ornaments year after year, from places far away and nearer to home, and I love seeing these souvenirs each December. They’re like friends from times past. A few years back, I even designed a line of ornaments for the catalog company Frontgate, inspired by my own favorites with touches of chinoiserie and pastels.
If you love Christmas but want to simplify your decorating, I offer some tips to help.
The Christmas spirit can be easily evoked in your home by filling a silver cachepot on the foyer console with a touch of live holly or other greenery and flanking the arrangement with a pair of gleaming silver candlesticks fitted with bright red candles.
As a child, my grandmother always took time to polish every piece of silver in her home, from French bowls and cups, to picture frames and vases. The latter she filled with cut amaryllis at the holidays. Perhaps those memories are why silver means Christmas to me.
You can easily make things merry and bright by polishing up a few silver pieces such as those candlesticks or a nut bowl you fill with pecans or walnuts and a nutcracker.
You might even forswear putting up a tree loaded with all those baubles and garlands. Instead, why not display your favorite ornaments in silver or glass bowls on tables and your mantelpiece? Then scatter among the bowls a few candles. How festive that would be.
The holidays often mean hosting impromptu guests, so make sure you’re prepared. Keeping a supply of good-quality cookies and treats on hand can be perfect to serve on an afternoon with coffee, tea or even cocoa. But be sure to give your teacups and coffee cups a once-over, and replace anything that’s chipped. Your sugar bowl, creamer and cookie tray might also need a little attention. And it might be time for some new Christmas linens for your tea table.
If you’re serving Christmas dinner, my advice is to always keep the table decorations simple. Again, you can’t go wrong with red candles in silver holders standing among silver bowls filled with ornaments or seasonal flowers. And bring out your red glassware for a festive touch.
A simple Christmas can be yours with a few thoughtful touches. Something shiny, something red, sprigs of holly and an amaryllis or two may be all you need to transform your home, while giving you more time to celebrate with those you love.