Decorating for Christmas Everything but the Tree
/Our tradition is to decorate for Christmas just after Thanksgiving. The activity signals the beginning of the happy flurry always associated with December. This year I find myself enthusiastic about our decorations other than the tree!
My favorite is the way we are using Christmas cards from years past:
- Under the clear plastic on the table (picture at right)
- Backed with thin magnets (attached to the card with 2 faced tape) and put on the refrigerator, the door to the garage, the frames of the French doors
- Standing up on the mantle
- Pinned to the giant scrunchies on the pantry and coat closet doors (picture of the scrunchies before the cards were attached below)
The flags on the stair railing are festive as well. The first flags we bought were used outdoors and faded after a year or two. It’s better to pick out favorites and use them year and after year – making them part of the tradition rather than a short-term glitz.
The same can be said for the pine cone wreath hanging in the den. I did use it outdoors on the front door one year but decided thereafter to decorate it with more fragile ribbons, bells, and artificial birds to hang somewhere inside. It is about 15 years old now. The wreath started out with more sentimental value than the purchased flags since my sister made it from pine cones collected from the yard of another sister.
What are your favorite ‘everything but the tree’ decorations this year?
