20/20 Blog

12 Stress-free ways to Decorate for the Holidays

(and prepare to impress the in-laws)

1. Put up evergreen garlands at your front door, on your stair banister, in
    doorways or on your fireplace. Local schools usually have a fundraiser around
    the holidays selling garlands, wreaths, and mantelpiece swags. Easily
    decorate your home and support your local school at the same time.

2. Put candles around your home. These can be flamed or flameless; both come
    scented to the season. Place them on mantels, pianos, centerpieces,
    sideboards, in bathrooms and, of course, bedrooms. As Hanukah is the
    “festival of lights”, candles instantly make it feel like the holidays.

3. To reflect and shimmer the candlelight you create in your home, place
    glass bulbs and ornaments in bowls, jars, hurricane glasses, and vases of all
    shapes and sizes. Place these at focal points in your home, especially in the
    darker recesses where they will be the most dramatic.

4. Available, for free, in you or a neighbor’s yard are interesting branches that
    can be decorated with various hues of moss, holly, berries, and pinecones.
    For added dazzle, spray paint the accents with metallic or glitter paint.
    Showcase your festive branches in vases, urns, or across your mantel or hall
    mirror.

5. Less is more – put “visual” centerpieces around your house in key viewing
    areas. Highlight where people will be looking – fireplace mantel, dining room
    table, entry way, staircase, front porch, and kitchen island. Decorating focal
    points in your home makes the whole house feel completely decorated even
    when it’s not.

6. An easy and inexpensive decoration that you can recycle later are holiday
    cards. From the blues, silvers, and golds of Hanukah cards to the reds, greens
    and whites of Christmas cards to the more neutral earth tones of Kwanzaa,
    greeting cards provide instant color for your holiday decorating. Simply tack
    an arc of ribbon across the wall or hang in strips down a hallway.  Attach your
    cards as they come to you in the mail. Use decorative or metallic coated  
    binder clips to attach to the festive holiday ribbons.

7. Holiday music is a very easy decoration. Anything audio stirs
    memories and pulls at the strings of nostalgia. The most basic of holiday
    decorations can be boosted ten-fold with the addition of holiday music. Most
    cable companies offer holiday music channels via your television during the
    season showcasing classics, vintage, jazz, R&B, and classical tunes.

8. Another great offering from cable companies is the TV Yule Log Fireplace
    with holiday music accompaniment. Or fast lighting logs from the store are a
    quick alternative to the traditional fire and burn for only 2-3 hours. Naturally, if
    you have a gas fireplace, a flick of the switch creates instant holiday
    ambiance.

9. Having everyone & their dog (literally) over for Christmas dinner? Have
    everyone bring a dish and a decoration/centerpiece. These can be
    outdoor votives, music, candles, vintage decorations – infinite possibilities.
    Your guests help out with decorating your home for the traditional dinner.
    Decide who brings what dish based on your menu and divvy everyone up
    into sections using the first letters of their last name.

10. Booze, booze, booze – nothing makes a holiday more bearable than some
      high spirits.

11. To keep your Christmas tree or Christmas cactus fresh (as well as your regular
      indoor plants), use an automatic tree watering device. An alternative to the
      full-size Christmas tree are table top evergreen trees. These stay healthier
      longer and are easier to water.

And finally…..

12. Keep family and friends all around you. Don’t try and do everything yourself.
      The holidays are about kindness, caring, sharing and giving. Everyone wants
      to do something nice for someone else, so let them.  It’s the most meaningful
      gift of all this holiday season.