CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Table:

For the centre piece – use an oval shaped mirror for a frozen pond. Over the pond, have a sleigh covered with paper and drawn by white reindeer or the natural colour with silvered reins and harness.

In the sleigh have a frosty looking Santa Claus, with snowy beard, white hair, white fur robes and a pack filled with trinkets done up in silver paper.

Around the edge of the mirror mass heaps of cotton for snow bands, and here and there stand toy Christmas trees sprinkled thickly with silver tinsel.

Use glass or silver candlesticks with snow scene shades, silver bon bon dishes filled with white and pale green mints. Hang icicles from the chandelier and trail them on a silver cord to each corner of the table.

For souvenirs at each plate have a polar bear to hold bon bons with a small white card with a Christmas greeting, and the name of the guest.

To the back of each chair tie with silver cord a good sized package tied in silver paper, or in white tissue paper and silver ribbon. These contain and inexpensive gift from the hosts and add remarkably to the decorative effect.

Where trouble is not minded the dining room can be thickly strung with silvered wire from which hang icicles while in one corner can be a small tree covered only with silver decorations and tinsel and massed at the base to represent snow.

A different centre piece could be made simply by covering a large round bowl with white cotton batting, and set it with a wreath of holly like a giant snowball. Fill the globe with a small gift for each guest, and from the top have sprigs of holly, mistletoe or sprays of red berries.

Attached to each gift should be a narrow red ribbon that extends to the plate of a guest. The ribbon can be tied around a small dish filled with candy and used as a place card.

Scattered around the table can be small dishes of cakes and candy set in beds of holly, to which extra berries are tied to give a more vivid tone.

The four candles or the branching candelabra can have shades of bright red paper under the cut silver frames, if one owns them; or paper shades can be made in a blunt wedge-shape, with sprays of holly or poinsettia painted on each of the four sides.

If the dinner is not to be long the ribbons coming from the snowball can end in a large gilt star at each plate, with an individual red candle in the centre, stuck in a small tin holder.

A decoration that would give much pleasure to children would be to cover a dishpan with greens. Fill it with small gifts, and on the top, as on a nest, have a huge goose sitting.

This goose can be made of cardboard and covered with cotton batting. The bill is painted bright yellow and show buttons are stuck in for eyes. Attached to each gift could be a string of evergreen leading to a plate and ending in a gay place card.

A Christmas tree centrepiece, while not especially novel, is always popular and highly decorative if covered with small gilt balls and tinsel. It is showy, with no more costly trimmings that rings of red paper sewed together or strings of popcorn and old fashioned red and white mint drops.

(1908)

The house:

Scraps of holly, with or without berries, ivy, fir, spruce, pine, cedar, or even the humble ferns may all be advantageously pressed into service for the making of the ropes, festoons etc., which are most effective features of home decoration.

In the sketch below is a suggestion for the decoration of the ordinary small hall which is to be found in most houses. The band over the arch, the two festoons, and the wreath encircling the handrail and newel post are all made from small pieces of evergreens twisted into ropes by means of fine florist’s wire, which is to be purchased on reels for the small sum of a penny. In the centre of the arch is hung the traditional bunch of mistletoe, and a charming touch of colour is introduced by means of three gay Chinese lanterns swung among the greenery. This, of course, is only an idea, which may be improved upon or cut down according to the individual taste of the decorator. The decoration of the house immediately suggests to one’s mind the decoration of the Christmas dinner table, which should, in my opinion, when the children are in question, be strongly suggestive of the special day for which it is prepared. A scattering of bright crackers about the tablecloth adds to the general brightness of effect, and incidentally to the joy of the children, who dearly love the fun of pulling them when dessert arrives.

The hanging of the stocking

The tradition of hanging up the stocking on Christmas Eve is a charming old custom which should not be neglected. The stocking may be packed with all sorts of inexpensive gifts, such as packets of homemade sweets, little cheap toys, oranges, apples, nuts, and any little odds and ends. The real joy lies in the early morning finding of the packed stocking, so limp and empty the night before, the wonder of what lies hidden within it, and the delighted turning out of one thing after another.