Looking Forward to Christmas 3

According to Emerson, an Indian once answered a white man who complained that he had no time, "You have all the time there is." The trouble is we don't always have it when we need it. The right time for planning is when there are not too many other things to do.

In out-of-season thinking, a few fundamentals should be kept in mind. It is important for decorations to har­monize with the house. Over-decoration is bad; it cheapens the total effect. A few well-made and carefully placed
decorations will be far more attractive than a clutter of inferior ones.

Where there are wide windows, garlands may be ap­propriate across the tops. Large rooms may permit garlands around mantels or draped over banisters. But an evergreen ball suspended in a hall or doorway, or a candle board decoration on a window sill may be more effective in a small house.

Formal houses require a corresponding formality in treatment. The colors used are important. Too many people consider a confusion of colors appropriate for Christmas. Red and green and white are traditional, but there is no law on the subject. Modern taste approves blue and silver, or other combinations that suit the room and house in which they are used.

Size is important in respect to color. Too much heavy color in a small place may create a cramped and stuffy effect. Neither should small rooms be overloaded with evergreen boughs or wreaths or sprays. The ideal is good proportion.

It is an established custom in many homes to remove the Christmas decorations on a particular date. It is better to discard them while they are attractive than to become bored with them. There is nothing that looks more miserable than a tree which has outlasted its welcome, or a dried up wreath which has lost the life and sparkle which first gave it meaning.

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chapter2 Making a Green Christmas