FLAUNT YOUR SKILLS
The Christmas period is the perfect time to flaunt your indoor decorating skills. There are plenty of opportunities to be creative, either by home baking or making decorations. Maybe not everything you see lying about outside is suitable for hanging on the tree or decorating the walls, but, it’s amazing how an everyday item can be transformed with a bit of glitter and some cotton wool. Evergreen shrubs are ripe for picking just before the holidays and make a wonderful addition to the table.
Here are some other fun and unique ways to bring the outdoors inside.
COLLECTING ALL YEAR
Start collecting things now. For the best decorations keep your eyes open year-round. My mother in law has the same principal for buying the presents, if she sees something at any time of year it goes into the present’s drawer, if only I had that discipline. Items that can be found in the wooded areas or countryside include discarded bird’s nests, large seed pots and pine cones. Flowers, herbs and berries can be picked and dried early.
STRING THEM UP
Try stringing popcorn to make a garland, stale popcorn works the best. Add pine cones, plain or spray-painted in plain colours or glittered. Or just add fake snow to cap them with.
Sliced citrus fruits make beautiful homemade stained-glass windows when hung from the branches of the Christmas tree. Simply slice the fruit, place on baking tray and put in the hot press. If you are in a rush (and who isn’t at Christmas?) then put the slices in a warm oven. Sprinkle with sugar or varnish or just keep them as they are to enjoy their natural colour as the winter sun catches them.
Large nuts and seed pots are easily sprayed with gold paint or glitter, adding to the much-welcomed sparkle.
PINING FOR SCENT
Baskets filled with pine cones are beautiful around the fireplace, near the backdoor, or as a centre piece on the dining room table. Since many pine cones drop early in the year, the scent may need to be refreshed with evergreen or cedar oil. A few drops will do the trick. Pine cones also can be dipped in egg whites, then rolled in cinnamon and other spices. These make unusual gifts or as an aromatic pick-me-up just before guests arrive when you throw them on the fire (the cones, not the guests).
An inside wreath created with flowering herbs, twigs, and berries not only is a graceful addition to your own wall, but it makes the perfect gift. The key to creating a wreath is to forget about being perfect. Any holes can be filled in later, and every wreath has it’s own appeal.
CHRISTMAS HOUSE PLANTS
No festive Season would be complete without some indoor house plants to freshen the air, soften the hard edges of a room and give an extra splash of colour. Here are some easy to look after varieties that are all widely available. The Poinsettia’s are going for next to nothing in the shops. They probably won’t last as long as the ivies or ferns but that doesn’t matter because they give us so much pleasure over the short Christmas period
Cyclamen - this winter to spring flowering plant is excellent for indoor use and is available in a variety of colours, red, pinks, purple and whites.
Winter Cherry (Solanum) – These have brilliant orange/red berries.
Christmas Cactus (Zygocactus truncatus) is another great plant to use in your home and will flower for weeks.
African Violet - One of the most popular houseplants here in Ireland and so widely available in a variety of colours with great velvety green foliage.
Ivy (Hedera) - Small ivies make great houseplants.
Ferns – Try the holly or maidenhead ferns, both make excellent indoor plants.
Osmanthus - Commonly known as 'False Holly' it is a great Christmas display.
Primrose (Primula) – These give colourful clusters of flowers a range of yellow, red, pink, white, orange and purple.
Poinsettia – Red white or cream, they will compliment any Christmas theme.
Azaleas - Colours including white, red, pink and purple. They don't like being hot and dry, so keep cool, which is good advice all around at Christmas……
NOT EVERYTHING IS SUITABLE
I mentioned earlier about not everything outside being suitable to be used as Christmas decorations, or ornaments at any other times of the year. This got me thinking about the times when I carried unusual (or dangerous in some cases) things into the house thinking “It seemed a good idea at the time”.
I have decided to do a Top Five list.
1. When I got my first house, I wanted to look sophisticated so I bought a load of old books from a charity shop to give me an instant bookcase full of “Old Classics” These classics had bookworm issues, which put the woodwork of the house in danger and made me look really daft when anyone asked me what a particular book was about, having not read any of them.
2. A friend of mine bought a fresh oyster each for us to enjoy. He guzzled his down making horrible guttural noises, which frankly made me feel ill. I therefore kept my new pet in a bucket in the front room for three weeks simulating the tide with my hands and feeding it fish food. I eventually had to throw it out as it was becoming a health hazard and the neighbours were complaining about the smell.
3. Like many people of my age, I have (when much younger and more foolish) come home with a traffic cone, usually on my head and had a road sign in the bedroom.
4. I was getting fed up with the wallpaper in my front room one day and decided to change it. The paper came off really easily as it was vinyl, revealing some older wallpaper from the 1940’s. It looked OK to me so stayed there until I moved out four years later.
5. A friend of mine wanted to spend a couple of nights sleeping on my settee…He ended up living there for two years.
