Botanic Bleu: Christmas Sparkle Greenery Throughout the House

Are your Christmas decorations the same style as they were ten or twenty years ago? Or perhaps your decorations have changed like many other Americans' decorations.

What better way to spot old and new traditions than with a Christmas blog tour!

Today is the fourth day of a week long tour, Cozy at Christmas. Katie at Let's Add Sprinkles organized over twenty bloggers to share our homes for this Christmas. Thanks, Katie, for inviting me, and thanks to all of you for visiting. I think you will find some ideas to inspire your Christmas decorations this year.

December is such a busy time of the year, but the hustle and bustle of the holiday month always fills me with CHEER. Earlier this week several Texas bloggers gathered for lunch in McKinney, TX. We had a grand time laughing and catching up with the latest exciting news. There were a few secrets shared about upcoming events for some of the bloggers. I can't wait to see to their secret projects revealed in the coming months.

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See the entire schedule for the Christmas home tour at the end of the post. You will want to visit everyone to spot the old and new traditions in Christmas decorations.

Every generation develops new holiday traditions mixed with older traditions from their families. Christmas decorations are areas in which some of the most noticeable changes have occurred over the past fifty years in the United States. Decorations have evolved in our homes from mostly natural holly, ivy, magnolia, and fir greenery to using artificial sparkly lights and glittery ornaments.

Houses, shrubs, trees, and fences outlined in Christmas lights are now common exterior sights. So much so that new small businesses for residential Christmas lighting services have sprung up. Inside, Christmas decorations include glittery artificial centerpieces, mantel displays, and tree ornaments.

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Glittery, sparkly decorations beginning with a gold metal NOEL sign caught my eye this year. Traditionally, I have favored fresh greens with few artificial ornaments.

But, this year, my house is filled with sparkle added to fresh evergreens.

Sparkle & Greenery Throughout the House

beginning in the living room...

Sparkle is not totally new to my mantel. The large silver-colored reindeer first appeared in the late 1990s when our house was on the local women's club Christmas tour of homes. Lots of greenery on the mantel accompanied him that year.

This year a trio of jeweled glitter trees reflect in the mirror. At first there were preserved eucalyptus branches also on the mantel, but after seeing the photos I decided the eucalyptus detracted from the sparkly trees.

Crystal candlesticks add more sparkle to the glittery trees.

A single jeweled glitter spray shines brightly under the silver reindeer without the eucalyptus branches.

Fauceted crystal spray stems sparkle with clear crystal, silver, and black.

Opposite the mantel, a fresh cut Fraser fir tree is decorated in whites, silvers, and sparkles... mixing my old favorite tradition of real greenery with the new tradition of artificial sparkle. A detailed look at the tree is coming in a future post.

Glittery silver birds' nests, bejeweled white ribbon, and jeweled glittery stems join white jeweled ornaments for lots of sparkle.

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The jeweled glittery artificial sprays are the stars of this year's Christmas tree. Each faceted crystal sparkles like a diamond and more so at night when the fairy lights on the tree are lit.

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And the star of this year's Christmas decorations in the sunspace breakfast area is a hanging fresh boxwood wreath paired with a homemade white thorny wreath and silver bell garland.

The hanging wreath is another combination of an old favorite fresh greenery paired with a new sparkly look.

There are still touches of more traditional fresh greenery in the breakfast space. A rosemary conical tree in a French style white pot sits on the top shelf of the plate stand. A big challenge for me is keeping fresh rosemary plants alive in the house, but I love their look and fresh scent.

A small fresh flower arrangement made from white gerber daisies and a mix of fresh greenery sits on the breakfast table next to a hand-carved wooden Russian Father Frost. A pretty seasonal flower arrangement is easy to make from greens trimmed from the bottom of fresh trees and shrubs in the yard. Small white daisies from the grocery store are all that's needed to add to the fresh greenery.

For three or four years I've been admiring horizontal wreaths hanging above tables inside and outside. Every photo started me thinking I would like to hang a wreath horizontally. This year is the year! A hanging wreath is much easier than I thought it would be, and I will be hanging more horizontal wreaths in the future.

Each little silver bell jingles when the wreath moves.

If you would like to hang a horizontal wreath in your house this year, there is a post with details coming in a few days. Stop back to see step-by-step directions for how I put together the hanging wreath above the breakfast table.