Decorating for the Festive Season

When I lived in the UK, the train stations used to advertise the train times for “The Festive Season”, thereby encompassing all of the myriad holidays that fall this time of the year. I have incorporated that phrase into my thinking, in part, because I am not a huge fan of red and green Christmas decorations.

I love looking through the UK’s House & Garden magazine’s ideas for alternate holiday decorations, and thought I’d share some of them with you, like I did last year!

Stick stickers back-to-back on string and then hang them everywhere. I’ve done this on my all-purpose gardenia, which serves as my de facto Christmas tree.

You can even use little triangles or squares for the garlands. This is great for kids to help with.

Taking things one step further, you could adorn the trim with stick-on gold foil dots!

The amazing Ben Pentreath has decorated his country house with wonderful greenery. I especially live the single ball hanging from the ceiling.

Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and other grocery stores often have table-top trees, which are simple to decorate.

And why stop at one tree?

Craft stores often have bags of pompoms and you could use them to decorate a tree.

Although stringing little bells on a chain might be a chore, you could put them onto a brighly coloured ribbon, knotting at each bell.

A winter walk in the woods might yield a great branch that you could use to decorate. Use those great little copper wire fairy lights to light the tree and then tiny balls to make it sparkle.

Or maybe a bough of fir with tiny ornaments strung from bright ribbons.

I love the idea of massing bright balls down the center of the table. It would also look amazing with low candles interspersed throughout.

How do you decorate for the Festive Season? I’d love to know.