Christmas Decorating Interior

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Overview

Exterior

Interior

Slideshow (39)

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In the second section, we bring to you decorations for the interior of the house. As stated earlier, decorations from the colonial period were minimal compared to the decorations of today. Greens, fruits, berries, and nuts decorated the home. A large cluster of mistletoe was popular. Plain sprigs of holly or bay filled vases and containers. The Christmas tree was a later addition to the home. In Puritan New England, Cotton Mather had preached against "revelling, dicing, carding, masking, mummery" at Christmastide. In the lower states, it was suggested the the German settlers brought their customs with them to America and a German family set up the first Christmas tree early in 1710. The Christmas tree spread across the United States by the 1820's. In 1825 the Saturday Evening Post wrote "trees visible through the windows." In the book Kriss Kringle's Christmas Book published in 1848, the written passage states, "Fashions change, and of late Christmas Trees are becoming more common...The practice of hanging up stockings in the chimney corner...is being superceded by that by that of placing a Christmas tree on the table to await the annual visit of the worthy Santa Claus."

Some Pennsylvania German homes decorated with putzes around the Christmas tree. The common theme was all homes were decorated with greens. Use your imagination, like the picture with the pine cones under the Christmas tree or the saved greeting cards over the years which hang from the Christmas tree. It is easy to convert a walk-in fireplace to a colonial look just by adding greens and berries. Our family desires your family to have the spirit of Christmas burning within. Merry Christmas.

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Source: Text & photos by Bryan Wright

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