Search Results for: blog holiday decorating reminders

Decorating Your Home For Kwanzaa

In my previous blog I discussed the holiday of Kwanzaa. We are now just a week away from the start of the seven-day festival, which focuses on heritage, family and community. Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious one and is meant to serve as an inspiration to African-American families and the community. And while the celebration begins on December 26th and ends January 1st, neither the observance nor the decorations should be combined with Christmas, Hanukkah or the New Year. People celebrating Kwanzaa deck their homes in black, red and green. That color scheme is carried throughout the … Continue reading →

Decorating Your Home For The Holidays—How Do You Stack Up?

An 18-foot Douglas fir decked out with glass ornaments, red satin bows, and cotton snow; 10-foot tall Nutcrackers standing guard at the entrance to a living area; hundreds of yards of garland, dozens of wreaths, and half a dozen gingerbread house centerpieces… no, I’m not describing what the inside of my house looks like this time of year; rather I’m describing all the Christmas pageantry inside the White House. Did I mention the first family’s home even has ivy topiaries shaped like their pets– Scottish terriers Barney and Miss Beazley, and the first cat, Willie? It may put our house … Continue reading →

Decorating Tips For Your Holiday Table

When it comes to holiday decorating I always tell my friends that I have good news and bad news. The good news: I purchase all of my holiday decorations on the day after Christmas. I save a bundle and I don’t have to fight crowds this time of year because all of my shopping is done a year in advance. The bad news: when I do go into stores this time of the year I have to use every ounce of willpower I have so as not to give in to the temptation of stocking up on all of the … Continue reading →

Holiday Decorating Tips: Your Home and Yard

At one of the TV stations I used to work at we featured a segment during the month of December called: “Holiday Lights—Show Us Your Stuff.” We’d send a crew to document various homes in the viewing area that captured the holiday spirit. I used to marvel at how creative, and frankly, how incredibly elaborate some homeowners got with their outdoor decorations. Personally, I don’t have the time or money to turn my yard into a mega-watt Winter Wonderland. However, if you have the money but not the time (or motivation) to string hundreds of feet of lights or garland … Continue reading →

Holiday Decorating—Keep It Simple

When it comes to decorating my home for the holidays there is one acronym that always pops in my mind K.I.S.S.—Keep It Simple Stupid. I’m sure you have heard it used in other contexts, but it is appropriately applied to home decorating, especially during the holiday season. Remember: The simpler you keep it, the stronger the message. It may seem like a cop out… a way to get out of stringing dozens of feet worth of lights around your property, hanging garland from the rafters, or framing your living room with hundreds of mini votive candles, but decorating experts agree, … Continue reading →

Decorating Tips For Your Thanksgiving Dinner Table—Part 2

We’re turning the spotlight on the Thanksgiving dinner table. The big feast day is now just five days away. Sure, the table is the place where the holiday bird takes center stage with it’s supporting cast of side dishes, but it’s also where you can show off your decorating prowess, even if you don’t consider yourself in the same league as Martha Stewart. Here are more ways you can add spark to your holiday dinner table: Flower Power Consider skipping the traditional fall gimmicks of pinecones, pumpkins and plastic turkey table toppers and brightening your table with fresh chrysanthemums or … Continue reading →

Holiday Decorating Reminders

You’ve read blogs about it. Most of you have seen it for yourselves. At this point there is simply no escaping it. The holidays are coming and most (if not all) of the Christmas and Hanukkah related merchandise is already proudly displayed at local retailers. In a previous blog I made a comment about the timing of the holiday décor, but now I’ve decided to take a different approach. I figure if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. With that public confession out of the way here is my first list (more will follow as we creep closer to the … Continue reading →

Pinterest

I have a confession to make, I’m addicted to Pinterest. When I should be writing, or cleaning, or exercising or walking the dogs, I’m pinning instead. I decided to do a search for housekeeping and I can’t believe all the ideas I found! I’m always looking for new ways to organize but I would never have thought to use a paper towel holder to organize ribbons. Or clothes pins to keep track of embroidery thread. Decorating ideas abound as well. Ideas for each holiday and just general decorating ideas. Quick fixes for boring rooms are just a pin a way. … Continue reading →

My Daughter’s Letter To Santa

Let me start by saying that this blog doesn’t include a heart warming anecdote about my wonderful child penning a letter to Santa asking him to forgo her presents in lieu of establishing world peace and providing adequate food and shelter to the millions of needy children in the world. While those are wonderful wishes, and ones I hope will some day make it on my child’s Santa wish list, my kid is 2-years-old and frankly she doesn’t even like Santa. In fact, she is deathly afraid of the guy, and when asked what she wants Santa to bring her … Continue reading →

Real Life Christmas Grinches

It seems as though every time I turn on the television I see yet another news report about some wacko dismantling, destroying, or stealing homeowners’ outdoor Christmas decorations. Just this week alone, seven homeowner’s in our city reported incidents of vandalism and theft involving outdoor nativity sets and inflatable holiday lawn decorations. It got me wondering whether this was an isolated event (as in just in the Midwest) or whether real-life Grinches are stealing Christmas decorations across the country? I discovered that while it is not a national epidemic, there have been numerous reports of holiday vandals wreaking havoc on … Continue reading →