Some of us haven’t even started decorating the house for Christmas (inside or out) – there are school concerts, Christmas and cookie exchanges at work, gift parcels to send to family across the country in time for the big day – with all that busy-ness, who has time to deck our own halls?
Irene Hill does. The longtime St. Albert resident, also the chief instructor for the St. Albert Floral Art Society’s twice yearly classes on flower arranging, knows her way around a Christmas tree, festive flowers and a swag of cedar boughs, not to mention dazzling holiday centrepieces and front door wreaths. While the floral art society offers a one-day Christmas workshop for folk to fashion their own fresh floral holiday creations, Hill uses a more organic approach in her own home – it’s whatever she feels like pulling from the vast stockpile of decorations in any given year.
“My husband wanted red this year, so I decided on a red and silver theme for the dĂ©cor,” said Hill, with strains of Barbra Streisand music playing in the background throughout her warm, wintery Woodlands-area home. From the grandly-decorated Christmas tree in front of the living room window and the cozy family room adorned with rustic wreath and greenery, to the show-stopping dining room decked out with glittering place settings of silver and red – Hill knows how to carry a theme through every room, creating pulled-together, peaceful transitions between all the spaces of the house.
“Red figures prominently most years, but choosing a different colour scheme each year for much of the holiday dĂ©cor keeps it fresh and interesting. I can keep costs down and re-use a lot of the same pieces in different combinations,” Hill said, pointing to the silver chargers on her dining table place settings, topped with inexpensive white plates and a more elaborate top plate in a chosen colour theme. Silver ornamental candle-holders, tree and ball ornaments and bags of craft-store glittery jewel bits create a dramatic, elegant tablescape, ready for holiday dining.
“One year I decorated with coppers, browns, creams and golds – another was hunter green and burgundy, and even one time it was copper and lime green,” said Hill, who looks for inspiration at local florist shops, Hole’s Greenhouses at The Enjoy Centre, and even Greenland Garden Centre on the Yellowhead Highway near Sherwood Park.
While the colour theme dominates her Christmas tree via large ornaments and streaming ribbons, Hill said she still groups old, meaningful ornaments into diamond-shaped vignettes, clumping all the delicate porcelain ones together, or handmade treasures her kids and grandchildren made for her from years past. Crystal and pewter ornaments are timeless, Hill said, and can be used every year no matter the colour choice. Topping it all is an ornate silvery-white angel, perched to look like “she has just come down from the clouds,” Hill said.
“I love a real tree, but you can enjoy the artificial one for so much longer. I use fresh cedar boughs in swags and displays, so we get that great Christmas tree smell too,” she said. In a past year, Hill even helped a local store win first prize at the Festival of Trees by stuffing leftover sheer ribbon deep into the base of the tree. “I tucked ribbon into all the empty spaces – it made the tree glow from the inside out.”
And in the cozy family room, a simple swag of birch branches atop a row of water-filled bottles makes an easy display for parents and kids to do together, Hill said. In this case, she simply spray-painted the branches and tucked in berry sprigs and small ornaments for a festive coffee-table display.
“Holiday decorating doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Create simple things with your kids, pick a colour scheme and use ornaments and florals that are meaningful to you. Don’t worry about trends,” Hill said.
