Tutorial: Fresh Greens Table Decoration

Inspired by a photo I saw online, yet doing my own take on the idea, I created a fresh greens and candles table decoration for the family room coffee table. It was so simple to make and only took a few minutes. The online photo showed it made in an antique box. But antique boxes are ridiculously priced, I discovered. Instead, I used an antique basket that I bought for just $12.

To make this yourself, you will need some sort of vessel (box, basket, bowl), a plastic trash bag, green florist foam (the type that will hold water), and assorted fresh greens (trimmings from your Christmas tree will work, but a mixture will look best). You will also need some candle holders. The photo that inspired me used small canning jars. I’m a bit in love with mercury glass this Christmas, so I bought three mercury glass holders (slightly bigger than votive holders) at Target. You will need candles to fit your holders.

The first step is to line your basket (or other vessel) with the opened trash bag. This will protect the surface you set it on from getting wet.



Then fill your kitchen sink with water. Cut the green foam (with a kitchen knife) to fit your vessel. You will want to stack and cut it so that it comes nearly to the top of your vessel. Put the green foam in the sink to soak until it will absorb no more water.

Remove the foam from the water, allowing it to drip out any excess water. Then add the foam to your basket, making sure that it’s not going to leak water anywhere.



Push and screw the candle holders into the foam until they are secure.



Insert greens here and there into the wet foam (the water will keep them fresh) until you can’t see the foam. I used three types of pine and some holly in mine.

Fresh green table decoration in 10 minutes time. And fun too!



Someone's Watching

Last Friday, just before the party, I went outside to light the votive candles that were lining our front walk to welcome the guests. I took my camera with me to see if I could capture a good picture of them. (I couldn’t.) But as I turned to go in, I was struck with how cozy the house looked…clean and nicely lit…looking its party best.

And then I realized that I wasn’t the only one doing the looking.

He’s such a good and faithful dog!

Christmas by Candlelight

Last night, Colette and I went to Old Sturbridge Village’s “Christmas by Candlelight” program. Technohubby and Max didn’t go…it’s a long story. Well…okay…I’ll tell you why. The first year we went to this program, Max was coming down with the flu (but we didn’t know it at the time), so the event sort of has bad associations for him. And it was so bitterly cold that night that Technohubby thought it was too cold to be fun, and has declined to go since. But Colette and I are undaunted! It's become a tradition for the two of us! And last night, even though the temperature was hovering right around 32 degrees when we arrived (at 4:00 p.m.), it was the warmest night we’ve ever spent at this event! There was no breeze. I even wore a skirt (with lots of layers) and a wool coat and scarf, and I was pretty much toasty warm all night. But even if it’d been 15 degrees, we would’ve gone, because it’s just so lovely!

I love all the white lights and candles, and the smoke curling from the chimneys.



This was the first building we went in, the “Parson’s House”. The wreath was made of fresh greens and globe amaranth. Very pretty! I have some globe amaranth hanging in my laundry room, waiting to be made into bouquets this January.



Inside, in the kitchen, was a costumed interpreter making fruitcake from a period recipe (not at all like that icky, modern type).

She was baking the fruitcake in a tin kitchen, using it as a reflector to radiate the heat.



Outside, we saw this pretty lady with her basket.



The fire on the green looked like a cozy spot to gather.



Then we went in another house, where gingerbread was being offered. Mmmm.

We went in the Towne House, where we listened to some period music and sampled hot mulled cider.



Then we went in the tavern.

Inside, it smelled delicious, as this woman was demonstrating how cocoa beans were processed into chocolate. It would’ve been processed commercially in large cities, like Boston, in the 1830′s (Sturbridge’s time period).



I may have the details wrong, but I believe the cocoa beans in the bowl on the right are unroasted. The beans in the middle bowl are roasted. And then they are put on that slanting stone over hot coals and melted into a form of chocolate that could be used. That’s probably not right, but it’s something like that. She said that cocoa powder and cocoa butter are two elements that exist in that pool of chocolate and the trick is to keep them together.



She had a variety of edibles that would’ve been added to hot cocoa to flavor it.



And in another part of the room were two interpreters demonstrating marzipan molding.



We listened to carolers! I love costumed carolers!



And we heard a bit of fiddle music.



Our last stop was to sample some roasted chestnuts. Yum!



Another wonderful “Christmas by Candlelight”!



Hot Cocoa Bar

Max's civics club had their Christmas party at our house last night. Everyone brought food to share…something savory and something sweet. Our “sweet” was a hot cocoa bar!

I found a recipe for crockpot hot cocoa (to serve a crowd) online. We sampled it and pronounced it too (TOO!) sweet, tweaked the recipe a bit, and got a hot cocoa we liked.



Here’s our version of the recipe:

CROCKPOT HOT COCOA

6 c. milk

1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

1/2 of a can of sweetened condensed milk

1 t. vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot. Set on “high” temperature until hot enough (will take about 2 hrs.), whisking to combine the melting chocolate every 20-30 mins. Then reduce temperature to “low” or “hold warm” setting to keep steaming hot. Serves 8. (We doubled the recipe to serve a larger number of people.)

And what’s hot cocoa without marshmallows? Homemade marshmallows taste SO much better than store bought ones. This is the recipe I use. Here’s our pan of marshmallows after it had sat overnight.



And here they are cut and ready for topping steaming cups of cocoa.



Other additions to the hot cocoa bar were:

candy canes (unwrapped) for stirring

Pepperidge Farm’s Mint Pirouette Cookies (for dunking and stirring)

a big bowl of whipped cream

chocolate syrup for drizzling

caramel syrup for drizzling

a shaker full of cocoa powder for dusting

Decking the Halls

When it comes to Christmas decorating, I tend to do the same thing for a couple of years. Then I get restless and want to try something new. This year was one of those years. Also, since living in New England, I have developed a greater appreciation for the simple beauty of natural things, and so this year I wanted to incorporate more of the beauty of nature into our decorating. Here’s a glimpse around our home this Christmas.

The family room mantle was decorated with a mix of real and artificial greens, a strand of wooden beads, pewter pieces, candlesticks made from old wooden spools, beeswax candles, and oranges that Colette studded with cloves.



The front door with its wreath of fresh greens.



And this year, I discovered THESE! Guess what they are? They are rosehips! Yes, rosehips! In California (where I used to live), these are more like the size of a small kumquat and develop when you don’t cut your roses (but just let them die and fall off). In New England, they are tiny (pea-size), and I was told they grow on small, wild roses. I bought this bunch at a boutique-like booth in an antique store. The clerk who rang up my purchase bundled them up quite artfully in a piece of paper and tied it round with a bit of rafia. Another clerk said to me, “Believe it or not, she used to be a stylist for Martha Stewart!” True.  Now they grace my kitchen windowsill.



And then I went to the winter farmers’ market, and spotted a rosehip wreath. Honestly, I was sold at the sight of it, but the sweetly-written tag sealed the deal.



I love how it still has some of the green leaves clinging to the vines.

The stair bannister was decorated with fresh green garland. We love the colonial look it gives the stairs…straight out of “Little Women”, according to Colette.



Colette was inspired to make some garland from greens cut from our own woods! She made one especially to fit the space over my kitchen window.



Hanging from it are the molded, cinnamon-scented, beeswax ornaments I bought at Old Sturbridge Village a couple of years ago. I just adore these!



Lastly, a little spray of greens tied with a pretty ribbon on the bedpost, because bedrooms (especially the master bedroom) are the sadly neglected rooms in Christmas decorating, and this little touch makes me smile.



O Christmas Tree!

Christmas tree day!  Today we went to a tree farm, for the first time ever, and cut our own tree!  What fun!  We drove about a mile down a dirt road. Then we came to the single-lane road of the tree farm, winding through the woods and getting narrower and narrower, until it opened up to the area where the trees were grown.  We climbed the bumpy-as-a-washboard road to the top of the hill, parked, and began the hunt for this year's tree.

The view from the top of their field stretched for miles.



The dogs were happy for the outing too!



The tree!

Waiting at the bottom of the hill (by the silver truck and a table full of jugs of maple syrup he was selling) was the owner of the farm waiting to collect his $30.  Coming from southern California, where the price would've easily been $90 for this size tree, we were beyond thrilled!



Colette busied herself putting on the lights tonight.  This is a great job for her, because she has patience for things that drive me crazy...like cake decorating, untangling knots from skeins of yarn...and stringing Christmas lights.  Bless her heart!



And she does a great job too!  Last year we bought new lights...all white.  And we discovered that if you buy some lights that twinkle, some that don't, some that are warm white lights, some that are cool white lights, and some of those round lights...that the mix creates a very pretty effect.