Whether you want a small sacred family Christmas or an elaborate Holiday Season complete with parties and a new home and yard display, making a commitment to an organized well thought out PLAN can help you achieve success. This year can be the beginning of many future memorable Christmases, and even this year you can have a new look with just a bit of creative thinking and the use of themes.
Themes can give your favorite holiday decorations and ornaments a new look. Over the years, my hobbies and interests reflect the place I live or books I am reading or even how old my child is. Using these specific annual interests, the ornaments, lights and other holiday decorations you already own can be creatively used to make a new look. I am one those people who love tradition, but just can't stand the boredom of the same old look every year. So I change it up to echo my current interests. Here are some examples of what I am talking about.
THEME BASED ON WHERE YOU LIVE
For example when we lived on the Island of Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands, I made a green fake wreath decorated with sea shells and coral. When we moved to Mexico, I added this wreath onto a larger ring and added a wide golden bow. Then when we moved back to the states and were living in Arizona, I added large berries from our China berry tree in the front yard. Some twenty years later this wreath is going to require some glue gun repair and additional sea shells.
USING NEW THEMES OF COLOR
Themes can be as simple as a new color palette. When I first started decorating my own tree, I used the typical red and green colors. I've collected tree skirts, etc. in those colors. When I lived on Kwaj they featured beautiful white Battenberg lace table cloths, doilies and napkins in the store that were very inexpensive, so I added them to my repertoire. I made a round tree skirt made from one of them so that if I wanted to add, let's say a blue theme, I'd wrap a length of blue fabric around the tree base then top it with this lace tree skirt.
I have antique china plates from the Claridge Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, that have a wide maroon band and gold trim. This inspired me to add another color scheme to my decorations. So each year I select either the red and green theme or the maroon theme. During the after-Christmas sales one year, I found the most gorgeous deep burgundy/maroon glass ornaments with gold trim that were originally beyond my budget, but on sale I got them for a quarter of the price. Here is a photo of the next year where I had the money to buy a tall, live "flocked tree" that I decorated using these ornaments.
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| My favorite white flocked tree with burgundy ornaments. |
I must admit that photo above was taken on my daughter's fourth Christmas, so you will see lots of her dolls and toys under the tree. However, if you look deep into the boughs of the tree, you will find my own doll collection. This is my own family tradition. I bring out the dolls every year and they "climb" all over the tree. I've collected "fairy" ornaments and other "doll" ornaments as well, over the years. But, I only buy them on sale at the after Christmas clearances. Because I have a "PLAN or THEME" it makes it very easy to sort through the many offerings on these clearance tables whether it is a color or a hobby.
HERE ARE SOME IDEAS THAT YOU COULD BASE A THEME ON:
FAVORITE COLOR (matching your true Love's eyes, dinnerware, automobile, etc.)
HOBBY (scrap booking, knitting, crocheting, rubber stamping, origami, doll collecting, golf, football, basketball, baseball, computers, video games, etc.)
COUNTRY OF THE WORLD (England, France, Mexico, China, etc.)
PERIOD OF HISTORY (Victorian, Renaissance, Ancient Greece, Ancient Holy Land, Mexico, etc.)
DESIGN MOTIF (snowman, snowflake, saguaro cactus, stars, angels, Native American, red chili peppers, favorite cartoon, Teddie bears, doves, etc.)
PETS (dogs, cats, birds, fish, horses, goats, pigs, hamsters, lizards, ferrets, chickens, mice)
TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS THEMES MIGHT INCLUDE:
CONTEMPORARY LOOK
OLD FASHIONED
FAIRYLAND
BABES IN TOY LAND OR NUTCRACKERS
NATIVITY/RELIGIOUS
SANTA AND ELVES
CANDY LAND
CANDY CANES
NORTH POLE
CHRISTMAS VILLAGE SCENES
TOY TRAINS
DEER AND SLEIGHS
GINGERBREAD MEN
GOOSE/DUCK
DOVES/PARTRIDGE
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
OTHER IDEAS:
SPACE STATION
STAR TREK
MARS EXPLORATION
NASA LAUNCH - MISSILE 'TOE'
INTERNATIONAL FLAGS
PATRIOTIC THEME
FOLK ART
FAVORITE MOVIE THEME (featured blockbuster, old black and white, kids movie, or classic film)
MODES OF TRANSPORTATION OR TRAVEL (bicycles, planes, luggage, tickets, trains, buggies, pioneer wagons, automobiles, Transformers, etc.)
TWITTER, FACE BOOK OR IPOD
YOUR PROFESSION (dentist, doctor, lawyer, businessman, scholar, professor, computer programmer, athlete, Olympian, race car driver, etc.)
Have fun tweaking your holiday decorations or at least planning for next year when you go to after Christmas sales. I'll be posting some photos that examples of what I've presented here.
Merry Christmas!!!!
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