A Little Greenery

Every year we try to decorate in ways that are simple but tasteful (note the try). We keep it simple but effective, I hope. Last year we took an old Coca-Cola tapestry that had Santa Claus and a tree. We outlined the window with garland and lights then put our presents beneath the whole display. 

This year we live with my dad, who is disabled and has a service animal, so a tree is a little unfeasible.

Instead, we are taking a wreath and wrapping it with items on hand. I bought several spools of Christmas ribbon a month or so ago, on clearance, and found pearls I wasn’t quite sure how to use. Now, I like understated elegance, and I’m don’t know if I attained it, but here’s what we did: we took a string of lights (5’ fit pretty well, with an extension cord because of the placement) and followed the wire form of the wreath, wrapping the greenery back onto the lights to hold it in place. Next, using a hot glue gun and a bit of nimble fingerwork, we glued one end of the string of pearls to the wire on the wreath. We then wrapped the pearls around the wreath diagonally and twisted them into the lights. Using a red ribbon with the wire edges, we tied a pretty bow and hot glued it to the string of pearls – making sure the string ended where we wanted to put the bow so it all worked out nicely and gave a finished effect.

I’ve been painting Christmas ornaments for the last couple months and hung several of them onto the wreath before attaching it to the wall. One could also use pine cones, tiny birds, flowers, gingerbread men, pictures of the family members...Here’s a picture of the completed work: