Shrinking Christmas Doesn't Mean Giving up Traditional Decor by Christine Brun on Creators.com

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Shrinking Christmas Doesn't Mean Giving up Traditional Decor

I've been looking around my living room and trying to decide how to shrink Christmas. What I need is more open space and less stuff so that I can accommodate an active toddler around the holidays this year. Toss in two huge dogs, and the room is a classic recipe for cracked ornaments, dog tails accidentally removing ribbons from gifts and delicate decorations from a tree.

Honestly, I could really do without a tree and just savor the decorations on the mantel and the antique sideboard in the front hall, but my family would simply rebel. So for myself this year I've decided to squeeze the tree on the raised hearth to the left of the firebox. This will be a trick, and it will require just the right shape of tall, skinny evergreen tree.

Next, I'm removing the coffee table for a few weeks and relocating it to the dining room for the time being. The result should be more space around the furniture and less claustrophobia.

Paying special attention to the mantel is easy and has a big impact on any room. Fortunately, I have an electrical outlet to one side of my fireplace, which allows me to weave twinkle lights in and around whatever I choose to display. This year, I invested in monogrammed stockings for the entire family. I've always wanted them, and there were some good sales on Black Friday that enticed me to pull the trigger.

In previous years, I used an artificial evergreen garland with red berries and pinecones stuck in between the branches and lights. The pictured example is cleaner and updates the traditional colors by using an apple green with golds. Citrus green can lend itself more effectively to contemporary environments, as can white used with silver or gold.

If you rely on candles to create dreamy light during the holidays, exercise extreme caution while lighting and burning. Always make sure that the candles are extinguished before you turn in for the night. Know that you can pick up battery-operated tea lights that are completely safe.

You can buy these at Michael's, CVS Pharmacy or craft stores.

Consider combining mantel decorations with a green wreath over the fireplace. A fresh evergreen will provide enough aroma and perhaps give you the out you need to eliminate the actual standing tree. You might also hang a fresh wreath in the powder bath, the kitchen or the dining room. If you are adept at making bows, use large bows to tie garlands together or to set off the wreath with a color you wish to accent in your space. Ribbons don't have to be red and can initiate a way to tie non-traditional colors to the holiday theme.

Another way to grow space might be to buy several very tiny fresh trees. You might use one in the center of the dining table or on a piece of furniture at the front entry. Another might go in the living room next to the fireplace or on an end table.

My favorite seasonal decoration remains a huge Chinese red lacquer bowl filled with big pinecones, sprigs of fresh evergreens that I pluck from my own pines trees in the backyard and shiny red ornaments. It's simple and bold.

Remember as you decide how to decorate a room that repetition is effective when you're using small objects, be it a little glass votive or miniature poinsettias. Look for a minimum of three objects that are exactly the same. Decorate in threes, fives or sevens.

And avoid cheap-looking decorations, instead sticking with simple and genuine objects. You can't go wrong with pinecones and evergreens, solid color ornaments and ribbon. If you see interesting seed pods on your morning walk, collect them and insert them into your greens. Nuts, apples, pears or oranges are also lovely as decorations when tied together by greens. Table decor can include artichokes and fruit nestled into the fresh greens and votive lights for sparkle.

Christine Brun, ASID, is a San Diego-based interior designer and the author of "Small Space Living." Send questions and comments to her by email at christinebrun@sbcglobal.net. To find out more about Christine Brun and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.