An Artful Christmas

A Truly Happy Holiday

Too often, our holiday celebrations are filled with such tremendous effort, chaos and stress that they cease to be happy. Instead of creating our holidays in the true spirit of who we are and what we believe in, we overspend, overindulge and overlook the reason we are celebrating the season. If you are overwhelmed by the thought of the upcoming seasons or wish for more meaning to your holiday, Sandra Magsamen, author of Living Artfully, shares creative and artful ways to keep the "happy" in all the holidays. Through our mindful choices and actions, we can apply these simple, meaningful approaches and embrace our true spirit and the spirit of the holidays.

Make a Gift From the Heart

Instead of running all over town in search of that "perfect something," make someone something that is sure to please: a gift from the heart.

Wrap chocolate bars with holiday greetings like, "May your season be sweet" or "Merry Christmas from our home to yours." If the chocolate bar has nuts in it, you can write, "We're nuts about you! Merry Christmas!"
Assemble a scrapbook, and glue in your favorite family recipes and photos of past holidays. Decorate it with colored paper and ribbon. Give one to each family member…they will all cherish them.
Create a festive wine label. Print out a picture of you and your family (the size of a wine label) and glue it on top of the existing one. On red colored paper write, "Cheers to you this holiday Season" and attach it to the bottle with a piece of silver tinsel.
Make an "I love you because…" box, and fill it with notes cut in the shape of stars from shiny gold and silver paper, each bearing handwritten messages of reasons why you love this special person.

Grow Yourself

Weeks before the holiday season, gather paperwhite narcissus bulbs, planting soil and a few large terra-cotta pots. On slips of paper, write down the things you most hope for this season. It could be a wish for the world community like peace on earth, or something important to you like time to sit and hug your children. Tuck your wishes into the pots along with the bulbs, and as the stems unfold, watch your wishes take shape, too.

Remember that to grow anything, we must nurture it and care for it. Water and place your pots in the sun so they will grow and blossom, and their sweet fragrance will waft throughout your home. As the tall shoots begin to sway, tie them together with silver tinsel for a festive look.

A Chain of Belief

Sandra says that when she was a little girl, she and her sisters made paper chains to hang on the tree and the mantel in their home. They took different colored construction paper and cut strips the same width, then taped them together to make a chain.

An artful way to approach this fabulous project is to cut the strips of brightly colored paper, but before you link them all together, invite family and friends to write on them a message, a quote, a wish, a thought, a word or something that they believe or hold dear. Once you assemble this beautiful garland, you will have a chain of beliefs to share in your home. This activity, and the resulting beautiful decoration, will indeed put the "happy" in "happy holidays."

A Family Circle

Wreaths are beautiful all year long. The circle symbolizes wholeness, and few things are as welcoming at the front door as a wreath.

You can easily make your wreath personal this year by purchasing some miniature silver frames at a dollar store. Fill them with pictures of your family and friends, and tie each to your wreath with the ribbon of your choice. Using a computer, you can turn the photos to black and white before printing them out; some people prefer color images. Remember there is no right or wrong—just what you think is beautiful.

Artful Holiday Cards

Sending holiday cards doesn't have to be a chore…you can make it downright fun by having a card-making party with the family. To design your own Christmas cards this year, purchase a set of base cards and envelopes, and then invite your family to decorate them. You can glue your family portrait on a red-and-white striped background or tie a red ribbon through the card and stamp the word "cheers" on it.

For a more elaborate card, cut a Christmas tree shape out of green paper and have the kids decorate it with buttons, glitter and beads. Each card will be an original, a one of a kind—a masterpiece (just like its creator). The time spent together will also be a treasure.

Make a card to send online. Use a software program to create delightful digital holiday cards with your photos and then e-mail them to the people you love. Snail mail is great, but e-mail is fast. And with the new programs, it's really fun and easy to create memorable expressions of joy and love.

Wrap the Season in Style

Get wrapped up in the holiday season. Use old newspapers, craft paper or recycled brown bags from the grocery store as the base for your own beautifully festive wrapping creations. Wrap the package in the "basic" base paper, add jolly ribbon, tie on an ornament, or make a gift tag from a photo of the person to whom the gift is intended.

Colorful shredded paper makes a unique bow when tied to the top of the box with tinsel or ribbon. Or you can use strips of expensive gift paper as a decorative narrow band, framing the center of the package on top of the recycled paper as the base. These exquisite and charming creative packages are fun to make…and a gift to give.

Embellish Everything

Look for gift tags in nature—adorn your packages with holly, evergreen pieces, berries, poinsettias and pinecones. Create gift tags with clever verses that relate to the gift inside. If you're giving a candle, for instance, you might write, "You make the season sparkle and shine." And if the package is a jar of homemade jam: "Wishing you a berry nice holiday!"

An Ornament-Making Party

Host an ornament-making party. Invite friends over and tell them not to bring gifts, but to be prepared to make one. Fill bowls with beads, ribbons, notions, cut-out cardboard shapes (like stars and hearts), colored wire, glue guns and glue sticks, glitter and buttons. Ask your guests to make an ornament, using the materials you supplied. Gift-wrap the completed ornaments in white tissue paper and tie with a colorful ribbon.

Pass around the ornaments among all the guests in a game of hot potato. You can sing Christmas carols while playing. When the song is over, stop passing the packages. Each person will be holding a gift made by someone else at the party. Your guests can take the gift home as a party favor to hang on their tree (or somewhere special), as a reminder of the time spent with family and friends.

Think Beyond the Tree

Have fun as you discover the secret life of ornaments. Imagine the possibilities.

Tie an ornament with a brightly colored ribbon around the outside of pillar candles. This added touch makes them sparkle and shine even brighter. Go beyond fruit and berries, and use large and small ball ornaments to decorate a wreath. Personalize them with the names of each family member with a gold permanent marker. String small, glittery, round ornaments together with silver and gold beads to make a fun and festive necklace for the season or hang them from ribbon on your curtain rods to make a beautiful window treatment.

Ornaments add color and the spirit of the season to place settings for holiday brunches, desserts and gala gatherings. Use them as jazzy napkin rings, tie them on a bottle of wine and fill a glass vase with different colored glass ornaments for a centerpiece. Place them in flower arrangements or use them as name card holders.

Tuck several ornaments into your mantelpiece décor, or hang them from garlands draped over your fireplace or doorway. Hang an ornament from the rearview mirror of your car—"Deck the car with boughs of holly, fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la." There are so many delightful uses for these glittery beautiful pieces, so have fun as you use your imagination to create the holiday you imagine!

Get more ways to celebrate an artful Christmas.