“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse sleigh” What joy it is when radio stations start playing this type of music. That’s when you know Christmas has really landed. During this season, there are three types of Christmas decorators; The ones who can’t be bothered and do the bare minimum by putting up those “Ghana decorations”, then those who put up a tree with a few other ornaments, then we have those who see RED with the Christmas decorations. EVERYTHING MUST HANG! The Christmas extremists. They over do it with the decorations. This article is to make sure that you “colour in between the lines” and not have your house looking like the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel.
First and foremost are the colours. It is a known fact that the Christmas colours are crimson red, forest green, gold. But you go around town and people have all sorts of outlandish colours. In order to fall right in the theme of Christmas, decorations should be red, gold, green, silver and sometimes blue. Any more colours and your house will start looking like a cabana for a Cuban carnival.
Next is where to decorate. My OD friends, I know you want to bring a festive season to every room in your home but please spare the restroom. No one wants a mistletoe hanging over them while they are doing their business. Suitable rooms for decoration include the living room, the dining area and if you want to wake up to Christmas every day, an ornament or two in your bedroom won’t hurt. In this part of the world, we seldom decorate the outside of our houses. But a little decoration on that tree can make your house seem festive and inviting. Live in an apartment like The Niiyo? a Christmas ornament on your front door will put any one who comes to visit in high spirits.
Last but not least is the CHRISTMAS TREE! Have you ever seen an overdone Christmas tree? It is one of the most unsightly things. You start to wonder what the poor tree did, to deserve such treatment. Let’s start with the basic decorations to put on your tree. Pick a colour scheme to make your tree look cohesive and complete. Since colours have been touched on above, the same guidelines should be followed for the tree. A lot of people make the mistake of putting their ornamentsbefore the Christmas tree lights and that’s how they end up spending all of January 8th detangling lights. Lights first then the garlands, for those who are confused about garlands, it’s the ribbon like thing that’s used to decorate the tree. Then come the ornaments. Hanging spaceship like globes on your tree only makes your tree look bulky and gives less space for other ornaments. If you are confused on what ornaments to use, stick to the coloured balls or the snowflakes. And the cherry on top of the cake, the topper; A few of the popular options are an angel, a bow, a star, a large snowflake.
Using this as guidelines when decorating, your home is sure to look elegantly decorated and make Santa want to leave a few more presents than he should.