Ten Easy Ways to Decorate Your Home for Christmas

Tangled lights, clumsy cold fingers, and wobbling ladders are a dangerous way to decorate your home. Avoid the stress by decorating from the ground up with bright colors, natural products, and creative uses for those old strings of lights.

Ice Luminaries

This is a fun and inexpensive project the whole family can do together. Use different sized containers, food coloring, fall leaves, or evergreen boughs to create unique, environmentally-friendly ice blocks that can be lit with either candles or C9 LED lights. You can find instructions here



Porch Christmas Tree
If you have an artificial tree you aren't using indoors, set it on a porch. Decorate it with simple, colorful ornaments from a dollar store and light it up! Or, if you want less clean up, decorate it with shredded paper tinsel and strings of popcorn and berries that the squirrels and birds will haul away for you.

Tall Topiaries
A simple metal framework wrapped in lights, creates visual lift without having to take lights to the roof. Just make sure the base is weighted enough to keep them upright in the wind.

Bird Bath Bundles
Pile festive balls, evergreen trimmings and ribbon into an artful decoration for you unused summer birdbath. Run lights out to it to create a bright spot in the middle of your yard with very little fuss.


Wreaths on Windows

If you can access your outside frames from the inside, hanging wreathes over your windows will add a classy holiday touch to your exterior without having to climb a ladder. You can even buy pre-lit and decorated wreathes at santasquarters.com for quick and easy decorations year after year.









Garlanded Entrances

With only a stepstool or sturdy chair, you can hang swaged and lit evergreen garlands over the entrance to your home that will give your guests a warm greeting. Look for over-sized Christmas balls or bows to accent the corners, too. (pic url=http://www.mylifetime.com/files/imagecache/photo_gallery_featured/files/images/hc-395x298-windowbox.jpg)




Evergreen Window Boxes
Use holiday picks arranged in blocks of foam to fill seasonally empty porch railing planters and window boxes with festive cheer.


Ribbon-Wrapped Porch Columns
If you happen to have white porch columns, you can create an easy candy-cane look by wrapping the supports with a wide red ribbon. Even if your columns aren’t white, you can still wrap them in ribbon, garland or lights for easy holiday cheer.


Indoor Lighted Window Décor
Place simple electric candles in every window for a traditional warm look, or create a more animated scene by hanging lighted Christmas characters like the ones found at santasquarters.com.

Yard Decorations
Create a storybook scene in your own front yard with statues and lawn ornaments. You can choose from resin nativity scenes, classic characters made of lighted plastic, or wicker reindeer from the import store. Whichever you choose, they’re bound to make a statement.

With a little imagination and creativity, it is possible to create a unique look for your home’s exterior that will take your breath away without taking your feet off the ground.





Santa's Quarters is author Annie Sullivan's favorite place to shop for her office decorations. They have an online store with large selections of commercial grade wreaths, toppers, ball ornaments and artificial trees. 





Photo credits: Ice Luminary by rengber/flickr; wreathadd by Aunt Owwee/flickr; Happy Furry Friday from Charleydog by byrdiegyrl/flickr