101 Free Christmas Ideas Grandma Never Told You

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1. Christmas
2. Green Christmas
3. Out of Season
4. Tools & Techniques
5. Christmas Tree
6. Christmas Wreath
7. Christmas Decorations
8. Artificial Trees
9. Christmas Candles
10. The House
11. Christmas Tables
12. New Ideas
13. Tin Can Artistry
14. Christmas Recipe
15. Spirit of Christmas

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1. Christmas - Christmas comes but once a year, but its enjoyment need not be limited to a few crowded days in December. Anything so nice as Christmas deserves to be anticipated a long time in advance and remembered a long time afterwards. This is true to many pleasures. Much of the fun of a trip is found in planning it, deciding where to go, what to see, what to wear, how much to spend. So why not spread the fun of this festival through the year, by planning and preparing for it in every season?

2. Green Christmas - A writer of the seventeenth century declared that "a green Christmas is neither handsome nor healthful." He was referring to Christmas outdoors, of course. Indoors, the use of evergreens in decoration is traditional. It is interesting to note that evergreens were not used, at first, for their decorative value, but because of their symbolism.

3. Out of Season - Green is the background and foundation of the indoor Christmas, but the background may be brightened with all the colors of the rainbow. We may use many materials to accent decorations, but they should be selected with a sense of fitness. A colored candle may be suitable where a bright patch of fabric would be out of place.

4. Tools & Techniques - As in most hobbies and handicrafts, the equipment for the making of a Merry Christmas may match the taste and pocketbook of the decorator. There are few essentials. There can be, if you please, a considerable variety of tools and quantities of materials on your Christmas shelf.

The essentials include a pair of sharp pruning shears, florists' thread, wire, shellac, white paint and small amounts of other colors, silver or aluminum and gilt paints, brushes, turpentine and plaster of Paris. Sphagnum moss is also useful.

5. Trimming the Tree - There are universal traditions of Christmas and customs that are generally honored. There are others, no less important, that have grown up through the years in individual homes and families. These traditions and customs may determine when the tree is to be set up and decorated, who is to do it, and how it is to be done. The suggestions in this chapter are made in the hope of increasing these joyous time-honored, family traditions.

6. Making of Wreaths - For some people it is a commonplace chore of Christmas to buy a wreath or two, usually at a fancy price, and hang the purchase on the front door or above the fireplace. Yet a really handsome wreath can be made for a nominal sum and the satisfaction of designing and making it will add tremendously to its enjoyment. New ideas for making wreaths will come with every Christmas.

7. Hanging Decorations - The Christmas tree is usually the highlight of the home during the festive season. Other focal points are the front door, the fireplace and perhaps a hall. Window frames, open stairways, the mantelpiece and openings between rooms may also be adorned.

Good decoration consists of much more than sticking a few branches of evergreens behind curtain rods or pictures. Well-made garlands, sprays and hanging decorations can be suitably designed for each room and its furnishings. Fortunately, it is comparatively easy to make them.

8. Artificial Trees - Artificial trees cannot compare with real Christmas trees in dignity or significance. They should be regarded as interesting fancies, or as decorative details in a complete Christmas picture. They may be created and used for special occasions, as for a children's party or a holiday dinner. In small homes or city apartments, where a real tree would be impractical, an artificial tree may serve as a symbol. It is better to have a tin tree, a wooden tree, a gumdrop or lollipop tree than no tree at all.

9. Candle Decorations - Candles are popular throughout the year, but at no other season do we find such varied sizes and shapes as at Christmas. Decorative in themselves, they sometime present problems as to holders. For very large ones, angel candles or other irregular forms, mirrors, red glass plates or old china plates, painted red, make pleasing bases. Small pieces of evergreens may be clustered around them or whitened twigs and berries tied to them with a bow kept at safe distance from the flame. (Drawing 17) A wooden base, of the flower-arrangement type, makes an excellent stand. Melted wax or modeling clay will hold the candle in place or a nail may even be driven through the bottom to serve as a spike on which to impale the candle.

10. The House - Flower boxes at the window or on the porch are charming decorated for the holidays. They may be filled with sprays of evergreens and berries. If suet is added, birds will be attracted to the boxes and be a delight to watch from inside the house.

In the hallway, an old lantern of considerable size might occupy a table. If this is lighted by electricity, berries and greens can be placed inside the lantern as well as around the outside. (Drawing 20) If a candle has to be used, then the decorations should only be placed outside on the table. Very thick candles which will burn for hours are available.

11. Christmas Tables - The snow white damask cloth, regarded by many as old-fashioned, is still my choice for the Christmas dinner table. It serves as a fine background to the well-browned turkey, the dark red cranberries, the burning plum pudding, and the mixed candies and nuts.

Gay colored cloths and table coverings can be made for Christmas Eve, Christmas breakfast or supper and the many holiday parties. For these occasions, innumerable ideas can be carried out with red sateen, ribbon, cellophane, brocade, metal-cloth and materials of different colors to blend with the color scheme of the room or china.

12. New Ideas - Since the first writing of this book some new materials have been introduced which help to simplify the making of Christmas decorations.

It is not necessary to use privet canes and sphagnum moss for frames and bases, as has been previously suggested. They are still good, but may be replaced with the plastic materials now sold under the names of Floral foam and Styrofoam. They resemble snow in appearance, are very strong, but of light weight, and may easily be cut into desired shapes with a sharp, long-bladed kitchen knife.

13. Tin Can Artistry - During World War II many people were learning to save things that had previously been discarded. Tin cans were first collected by the salvage committee. Later, when they were no longer needed for the war effort, other uses were found for them. Since sparkling Christmas tree ornaments were not available, other things were used to add glitter to the tree.

14. Favorite Recipes - The following carefully selected and tested recipes will add joy to holiday eating and drinking. In most cases they are suitable for any season of the year. All are old favorites of my family and friends.

Place tea in a large bowl, add and stir well the lemon, lime and orange juices and mint leaves. Place these ingredients on ice for two hours. Shortly before serving, strain the punch, add the pineapple slices and juice, ginger ale, soda and crushed ice. Serves eighteen.

15. Spirit of Christmas - In a wonderful way the legends, customs and traditions of many lands and peoples are combined in our celebration of Christmas. This explains the great variety of its symbols. Stars and angels, trees and wreaths, bells, candles and yule logs mean Christmas in America. Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is a favorite story of the season. Nearly every child from the cradle onward also hears and loves that most famous of all1 Christmas poems, A Visit from Saint Nicholas, first told by Dr. Clement Clarks Moore to his children in 1822 and first published by The Troy Sentinel on December 23, 1823.

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