When decorating for Christmas consider using baskets suspended from the door knocker or hung beneath the letter box. If the entrance is broad, the fireside wood basket may be filled with greens and placed at one side. Old-fashioned sleigh bells hung on a spray of pine or spruce are charming. Bronze jingle bells are now obtainable. Lacking sleigh bells, others do well.
When decorating for Christmas consider using baskets suspended from the door knocker or hung beneath the letter box. If the entrance is broad, the fireside wood basket may be filled with greens and placed at one side. Old-fashioned sleigh bells hung on a spray of pine or spruce are charming. Bronze jingle bells are now obtainable. Lacking sleigh bells, others do well.
Bells, snowballs and stars may be made from plastic "snow," which is obtainable at florist supply houses and at some florist shops. This past Christmas, I cut and strung several small stars on bright red, waterproof ribbon against a spray of yew. Flood-lighted, it was particularly effective at night when the ""snow"" stars glistened.
Formal doors of French and Georgian houses lend themselves to more elaborate treatment. They can be garlanded, as well as wreathed, pointing up the delicate pattern of fanlight and sidelights. The heavy door of the English style mansion needs brightening with gilded or silvered leaves, or with a whitened evergreen bough tied with a big ribbon. Huge cones fastened to shellacked magnolia leaves, with or without ribbon, are distinctive. I have to admit installing landscape lighting is much easier but not as much fun.
For an Italian or Spanish villa, what could be more appropriate than a Della Robbia wreath - a striking and unusual decorative feature of foliage and fruits and also of fir or pine cones. The wreath is constructed as are all Christmas wreaths, with evergreen branches wired to a fairly strong double hoop or frame. Fruits, cones and nuts are introduced as imagination dictates, observing good principles of design and grouping, rather than spotting them. The ornaments are first dipped in a thin solution of shellac to preserve them and also give them a touch of brilliance.
After all, it is not how much, but how well you decorate that will leave a favorable impression upon the guests to your home during the Christmas holidays.
