We watched Christmas With The Kranks a few nights ago. Since my house doesn't look like Little Las Vegas, I feel like a Scrooge. It's not that I don't love plenty of lights and decorations, truly I do... if they're done right. But it takes a lot of time and work to decorate that much. I've never been on my roof and not sure I could drag a huge ceramic snowman up there. Why rip off your shingles and risk your life for no good reason? Besides, isn't Santa supposed to stand beside the chimney instead of Frosty? (I really don't get that.)Another reason I don't put up a lot of decoration, is that it can quickly degenerate into tacky. I'm sorry but I don't like tacky. I also don't like those huge blow up characters people put on their lawns or porches. (If you have one, I'm sorry.) Yes, I'm sure kids love a green Grinch dressed as Santa who is twenty feet tall. But what about grown-ups? I say we deserve decorations we like too.
I put my two small topiary-style lighted Christmas trees on either side of the steps on the porch. They are in pretty flower pots. Beside the door I have my grapevine wreath wrapped in red berries. I even gave my cement grape lady a red tinsel boa. That might be a little overboard, but the "goddess of wine" looked cold standing there wearing nothing but her cement smock. Oh, and how's this for tacky? I stuck a big candy cane by the mailbox. No, not tacky... playful is a better word I think. :-) As for inside the house, I like mantel decorations such as strings of "candied-fruit" or garlands of poinsettia and raffia along with velvet and tapestry stockings.
I love big Christmas trees, but boy do they eat up the time. An hour or three setting up and decorating, and the same taking down. Someone should invent already decorated trees for people like me who need to be writing instead of decorating. Fresh, real trees are the best. Smell very nice, but I couldn't justify the expense year after year. Also, as a gardener, I couldn't bear being a part of all those cute little trees dying. Perhaps that makes me a scrooge. Hope not. I have an artificial "pencil tree" which is slim and fairly tall. It fits more easily in our smallish living room. It also has a natural and elegant look to it. Speaking of elegance, my favorite "ornaments" are hydrangea blooms. I grow them and dry them in the attic. I choose smaller ones and then spray them burgundy. They look so nice in the tree with the other ornaments. Burgundy is my favorite Christmas color. You can keep your red and green. Give me burgundy... and a little gold. :-)
Above is a photo of one of our live Christmas trees from years ago, the only one that survived. Poor thing. He's had a hard life. :-)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
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