Falalalalalalalala... 'Tis the season to hang holly...

Tomorrow is November 28:  the first Sunday in Advent 2010! Woo Hoo!!!  We spent yesterday decking the halls inside since it was a little rainy and wet outside.  My favorite "structural element" of the house to decorate is the banister.  It used to be the mantle, but like I said before, the house has a big ol' honkin' TV hanging above the mantle, and that big ol' honkin' TV gets close to flamin' hot sometimes, so we're a little twitchy about starting a house fire by stuffing dried pine boughs under it.  So, yeah, I *heart* my front entry decor.  It whispers "Christmas" to me in a classier way than the Santa gnome who lives on the front porch next to the front door. 

When we deck the banister, we start by hanging 2- 8' pine garlands, attached end-to-end and wrapped in 16' of berry garland.  We used two types of berry garlands:  one set of garlands has larger berries -- about the size of small crab apples -- and the other set of garlands has smaller berries that look like clusters of holly berries.  Some very old plastic adjustable ties secure the top, middle, and bottom of the garland.  Since no part of the garland wraps around the top surface of the rail itself, the kids can still propel themselves upstairs, holding on the both railings and leaping 3-4 steps at a time. 

Next come the bows.  It took me a couple of years to figure out that spending a little extra time labeling bows in the undecorating phase would make decorating the next year a TON easier.  The bows are made of nylon-netted wire ribbon, trimmed with gold beads.  They are the greatest bows in the world.  They don't get creases in storage.  I just toss them in the banister box and put it in the attic for the year.  When I take them out, I fluff the loops a little and straighten the streamers, but there's no remaking bows every year like I had to do with velvet ribbon.

Hey, look!  I misspelled banister.  :) I do it twice more. Now I know why my thesis adviser said that I misspelled so consistently that she began to doubt the correct spelling of several words.   :) :)

The bows are attached with wire at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom of the garland.

Then comes a ribbon wrap.

It runs in three sections so that it's easier to wind around the garland:  top to middle; middle to bottom; bottom wound around the main support posts. I tried using one long ribbon, but three shorter sections are MUCH easier to manage.

Next I wrap gold beading around the garland, in three sections again.

And then add in some poinsettias to give the garland more dimension.

 

And there we go.  The banister is done.  I love all the red and green greeting us as we come and go throughout the season.  

 

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent, so stay tuned later this evening for a special Advent post.  If you haven't gotten out your Advent wreath yet, do it today.   Ideas for wreaths are here and here and here. Or you could just google "Advent wreaths."  That works too.

It doesn't have to be fancy -- just five candles, four in a circle and one in the middle. Remember we're celebrating the fact that God became flesh to pay for our sin; it's really not about the snazzy decorating, although, in His infinite love and glory, He gives us beautiful things to point us back to Him.

How perfect is that?  I stand in awe.  Got to go... I feel a little worship moment coming on...