This year, reinvent your decorations

It’s once again that time of the year when sinfully sweet fragrances waft from the kitchen, glittering tinsel wreaths come out of their cardboard boxes, and the heavenly voices of choirs fill the air in public spaces. You guessed it, Christmas is fast approaching, with its many Yuletide traditions.

Let’s pause to reflect. Obviously, tradition is important. You don’t have to be an anthropologist to grasp that passing on all kinds of small rituals from generation to generation is how culture is allowed to perpetuate and prosper. For all that, even the oldest traditions of yore are not set in stone. It is possible to honour a custom while giving it a fresh twist. And sometimes, revisiting folklore can lead to some pleasant surprises.

The following Christmas decorating ideas are proof!

The Christmas tree, reconsidered                                                                     

When you get right down to it, today’s Christmas tree is basically a conic form loaded up with shiny objects and crowned with a star. With that as our starting point, let’s have some fun! On a solid-coloured wall, assemble your loveliest small objects into a mosaic, or put up shelves in a strategically creative manner! You can get all architectural by stacking up books, or allow your illustrator’s instincts to do the work.

Door wreaths

Here too, we are dealing with a universally recognized shape, so there is no harm in playing around with it a bit. Perhaps you’d like to simply bend the supple branch of a shrub into a circular form or string a whole bunch of disparate buttons onto a metal wire. For a minimalist look, choose simple straws or go with flexible metal rods.

Counting down the days

What better countdown to the Holiday festivities than your own personalized take on the Advent calendar. Here too, the possibilities are endless. On a wall, you can install greeting cards above a row of hooks, or you can put up a bunch of small decorative boxes. Get even more imaginative by using clothespins, miniature buckets or empty toilet paper rolls covered with paper.

Naturally, this approach can be used for all the classic objects and paraphernalia encountered at this time of year. So here’s wishing everyone a merry old DIY time!