New Decking the Halls at Christmas Time

The air is colder; the trees are losing their leaves. Old man winter gears up to change our landscape from autumn oranges to winter white and people replace their lawn furniture with plastic snowmen. It is time to decorate for the holidays and to start baking cupcakes for Christmas.

I wait all year to pull down my Christmas and Thanksgiving decorations from the attic. Many people don’t decorate because of the lengthy process of hanging the decorations but, I relish this time spent and the anticipation of the final completed masterpiece.

If you are anything like me, you’ve spent all year absorbing ideas and helpful hints about decorating. A few things I’ve learned along the way are to let your creativity take over; during this season excess is awarded and the less is more rule is obsolete. Whether this is your first year decorating or you have been decorating for years, here are few tips.

First, decide if you want a common theme. Of course, the holiday itself is a theme but there are subthemes such as snowmen, certain color combinations, rustic or modern. Choose according to your own tastes or according to your current home décor to better encapsulate the theme.

Try to decide ahead of time what you want your theme to be, it’s not crime to decide even a year ahead of time, and then you can buy decorations after the holidays when they are on sale! Stock up on plenty of lights, lights can be used anywhere and everywhere. You will never be left feeling like you bought too many lights.

There is however, an art to buying lights. Lights come in endless shapes, sizes and colors. Everyone has a different opinion on white lights but, take it from me; you can never go wrong with white lights. White lights can easily be used to accent a plain decoration or to dress up a tawdry one. Starting with white decorations really puts an emphasis on whatever other color you choose to incorporate into your decorating theme.

Some of the best decorations are homemade. Try making your own tree decorations. One cute example is to make a cranberry and popcorn garland for the tree. Or collect your own pinecones and use simple spray glue and sparkles to make easy and fun decorations for your tree. Making stockings is easier than you think and patterns can be found online.

Using various accents while decorating makes all the difference in your holiday décor. Candles are a popular choice for that simple added touch. A burning candle adds instant warmth and cheer to a room. Try using a holiday scented one. Many scents are available this year that smell like pine, freshly baked Christmas cupcakes or cupcake frosting.

Whatever you choose for your theme, don’t be afraid to switch it up every year. The great thing about holiday décor is that it can be mixed and matched every Christmas for a whole new look. The more unique your decorating is each year, the more you will look forward to finding new design ideas for the following year!