Colonial Williamsburg at Christmastime

Recently, my friend, Mary, visited Colonial Williamsburg.  While there she took photos of some of the wonderful outdoor Christmas decorations she saw on Duke of Gloucester Street, which is the main road through Colonial Williamsburg.  I have never been there during the Christmas season, but I do so want to go.  Have you ever been at Christmastime?

Mary said, "The arrangements go up right after Thanksgiving and remain up to January 6th.  Most of the arrangements are hand made by the employees of Williamsburg, Va. and some arrangements, the employees who are lucky to rent these colonial homes make their own arrangements. Employees who rent are allowed to hire a florist to make their arrangement but everything has to ALL natural, and only items that would have been in Virginia in the 1700's can be part of the arrangement. All of the arrangements are judged by the category-professionally made, hand made by an amateur, made by Williamsburg employee in the floral department. The arrangements are checked daily for anything that might have wilted. The pine roping is changed every 2 weeks."

No wonder all the arrangements are so beautiful!

Come along and help me name the elements used in creating these amazing displays.  I've numbered the pictures for easy reference.

1.




2. This appears to be dried flowers with perhaps burlap interwoven throughout.  I know I should know the names of the flowers…they look so familiar.  Want to take a stab at it?  The purple and pink are globe amaranth, I think.




3.  I see pomegranates, pine cones and more dried flowers.  Ummm, what are the long, skinny stalks?





4. So symmetrical!  I wonder how long these arrangements lasted?  Since they are outdoors in the cool temps, maybe they lasted for several weeks. 




5. I LOVE this! I think those apples are called “Lady Apples.” I cheated and looked in one of my Colonial Williamsburg books for that info.  The book I have is called, “Williamsburg Christmas” written by Libbey Hodges Oliver and Mary Miley Theobald. 




6. More Lady Apples in this wreath.  Looks like dried yarrow, pine cones and maybe holly berries.  I used to have a pretty yellow yarrow growing in my perennial garden.




7. Love how the large wreaths coordinates with the smaller door wreaths.




8. Now would you ever think to use carrots in your holiday décor?  Update:  Wow, you guys are good!  I'm learning a lot in the comments.  Apparently, this building is horse related, hence the carrots and the following picture showing apples on stirrups.  The thing on the door is called a Hames per Wendy, Mary's sister.  It's part of a horse collar or yoke.   I know you horsey folks are laughing.  I know nothing about horses.   The decorations are making more sense though, aren't they? :)




9. I love the mossy looking stuff on the roof.




10. I wonder what the brown things are at the top of this arrangement?  Anyone know?  The shape makes me think of a turkey.




11. Who knew brown and green could make such a beautiful wreath.  This wouldn’t be hard to duplicate, although where do you get seed pods that color?  Ummm…




12.




Close up of #12.  I see cinnamon, maybe oranges, although they look pretty small for oranges.  Do you think the purple flowers are lavender?  I don’t think those are oranges—they sort of have ridges.  So what are those orange things?  Any ideas?




13. Beautiful!  Dried flowers and lemons are a part of this wreath.  I think the white things are dried okra…something else I gleaned from my Colonial Williamsburg book.  It must be so much fun to work here and to make all these arrangements! 




14. Okay, I think I can name almost everything in this arrangement.  I see pine,  antlers, pheasant feathers and cotton.  Wonder what kind of berries they used.  They don’t look like nandina, holly or pyracantha berries.  Those are all common here in Georgia.  What do you think?  Would you ever think to use cotton in your Christmas decorations?   Neat, huh?




15.  What do you see?  Looks like magnolia and could that be dried corn stalks mixed in with the magnolia leaves?  Are those clove studded apples?  I’m used to seeing oranges with cloves, but not apples. I wonder what the little figures are made from?  Perhaps dried corn stalks? 
Isn’t it amazing they were able to take everyday plants and fruits and make beautiful decorations.  Of course, pineapple would have been a special treat back in Colonial times.  You see pineapple used in a lot of arrangements over doorways because it symbolized hospitality.




16.




17. Symmetry plays a big part in decorating in Colonial Williamsburg.  You see it in the individual arrangements and also in how they were displayed outside home and businesses.




18. This must the the Silversmith.  Looks like yarrow and shells were used in this pretty wreath.  What else?  Maybe dried lemon? What are the silver things?  Are they cups?  Or, maybe that’s pewter.



Hope you enjoyed this little tour highlighting a few of the Christmas decorations in Colonial Williamsburg.  Mary, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful pictures!  I’m really yearning to go for a visit during Christmastime now!

Pssst:  The winners for the recent Santos Cage Doll.com and Old Time Pottery Giveaways have been announced on the Giveaways posts.

Also, Noritake is Sponsoring a giveaway for 4 place settings of dinnerware, complete with beautiful goblets.  Scroll on down to the post below to enter the Noritake giveaway.

See you tonight for Tablescape Thursday.

A Christmas Porch Welcome to the 151st Metamorphosis Monday!

Happy Holidays!  Hope your weekend has been grand!  I've been busy finishing the last bit of Christmas decorating for the front porch.  Come a bit closer and check it out.

I usually use pine garland around the door for Christmas, but last year I had to buy enough to go around the door twice because it was sort of skimpy looking.  So this year I decided to try cedar.  If you live in the Atlanta area, Pike Nurseries has beautiful cedar garland.  I purchased 30 feet--enough to go around the door, down the center of my dining room table and across the mantel for $45.


If you don't want to spend a lot for fresh garland each year, a super budget friendly way to create garland is to buy a few strands of inexpensive faux garland at a discount store and add real greenery to it from your yard.  While on Christmas home tours, I've peeked under the fresh greenery of garlands around front doors, and often  there's artificial garland underneath.  You especially see this when the garland looks exceptionally thick and lush.  Often the maker of the garland has started with a strand of artificial garland as the base and they have added magnolia, pine, pine cones, or other greenery from the gardens.

To make garland starting with artificial garland as your base, cluster the greenery you're adding together in bunches, covering the stems of the greenery you've already wired on with the next layer of greenery, similar to how you cover a wreath form when adding fresh greenery to it.  It's okay to let some of the artificial garland peek out.  You will only have the initial expense of the garland (which isn't much if it's purchased in a discount store.  You'll need some green floral wire to wire on your greenery.  It's also very inexpensive to buy.

Then you just add your fresh greenery to it each year, eliminating the need to buy garland for decorating.  It's definitely more labor intensive than just buying fresh garland each year, but it's a great way to decorate with fresh garland with very little expense.  Of course, you have to have access to the greenery.  Or, access to a friend or neighbor's yard. At night.  Undercover.  But I didn't say that.  La, la, la....

My inspiration for the front door came from an ad torn from a old Grandinroad catalog.  I've saved this picture for several years now, hoping to create the look for my front door some Christmas.  At last, this was the year.




I did change the look up a bit, though.  I didn't use red ribbon since my front door is bright red and it would not have shown up very well.  Also, I wanted the wreaths to appear to be hanging from each other, instead of having the ribbon running down the door behind and through the center of each wreath, as shown in the Grandinroad ad.  The ribbon I used was a shimmery soft yellow/gold with touches of red and green.  I tried plaid ribbon and though it was pretty, it was a bit too bright for the "feel" I wanted this year.

I bought my wreaths at Lowe's.  They were $12 each but they just went on sale a couple of days ago for $9.
I kept my colors around the door soft and muted this year.  I just loved the look of the greenery, unadorned...no ribbon running through it and no baubles or beads this year.

Here's a little tip in case you wish to create this look for your front door.  If you just hang the wreaths from each other, the top wreath may lose its round shape and sag a bit from the weight of the other two wreaths below, unless you're using artificial wreaths.  Artificial wreaths may be light enough (weight wise) to hang from each other without causing the top wreath to sag.

My door is a wood door, so I placed a very skinny nail in the door on which to hang the second wreath.  You would never know that just looking at it. I didn't need to do that for the third wreath...it's hanging by ribbon alone.  The weight of one wreath seemed to be okay.  But the weight of two was a bit too much for the top wreath to handle without sagging in the center.  The second nail did the trick.

The top wreath is hanging from a metal wreath door hanger, the type that goes over the top of a door.  I attached a little ribbon to it with masking tape to hide the hanger.  That way all the wreaths appear to be hanging from ribbon.  I had three of those metal "over the door" type wreath hangers.  Two were too long and would have caused the top wreath to hang too low, throwing off this whole arrangement.  Fortunately, the third hanger was just the right length and worked perfectly.  I got lucky there.

I always have to use the sled and ice skates on the porch at Christmastime.  I just love them on the porch this time of year.  I tucked left over cedar and nandina berries from the yard into the top skate.

This year I placed an on old pail I found while antiquing one day, in front of the sled.  I put an ice bucket down inside the pail and filled it with water.  Then I filled it with Leland Cypress and nandina.  I also tucked a few red and silver ornaments in on top.

Remember this lantern I used on the porch for fall and Halloween?  It worked well surrounded by magnolia leaves on this Christmas porch.

Two artsy pics...just for fun.

Getting dark now--time to light up the garland.  (Click for a Pottery Barn Inspired Garland Tutorial.)

As it was getting dark, I tried to catch some "blue hour" pics.  (Click on the link to read about Blue Hour Photography.)

I'm still fascinated with the blue hour.  Love the trees silhouetted against this blue hour sky.

The Debutante camellia is still blooming its heart out.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

To see how the front porch looked prior to this metamorphosis, click HERE.  I'm joining in Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes HERE.

Looking forward to all the Before and Afters for this Metamorphosis Monday!

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Hang Wreaths on Your Exterior Windows: A Tutorial

Though I didn't have a working camera this week, I did manage to get all the "outside" wreaths hung and snapped a few pics for this tutorial.  The porch isn't decorated, yet.  This is an old pic from a past Christmas showing the wreaths across the front of the house.

Wreaths hung on windows across the front of a home has to be my most favorite Christmas decoration of all.  I've been hanging them on my home now for around 28 years, first at our old house and for the last 21 years on this home.  Each year when I hang them, I think back to the first time I saw them on the front of a house.  I marveled at the tremendous effort it must have taken to hang all those wreaths, envisioning long hours on a very, very tall ladder.  Then one day the proverbial light bulb went off and it hit me just how easy it would be to hang them.

You may already be hanging wreaths on your windows, but if not, this post is a little tutorial showing how I hang mine each year.  I have 13 windows on the front of my home.  When you first decide to hang wreaths, there's a bit of an initial investment.  After that, they last almost forever.  I did purchase new wreaths about 10 years ago but that was just because the first ones I bought were pretty skimpy.  Wreaths have come a long ways over the year--much more realistic looking now.

Measure your windows before purchasing your wreaths.  You don't want them to be too small or too big.  Apply the Goldilocks factor here.  For comparison, my windows are 32 inches wide and my wreaths are around 21-22 inches wide.

There are several ways to hang them.  You could buy those suction cup thingies that stick to windows.  I prefer hanging them from ribbons--just love the look of a wreath hanging from a pretty ribbon.  If you do wish to hang them with ribbon, be sure to buy outdoor ribbon.  You'll need about 4-5 feet for each wreath depending on the size/height of your windows.

I prefer to use 2 1/2 inch wide ribbon for my hanging ribbons.  The ribbon I originally used to hang my wreaths was narrow.  (See first pic of the house above to see the narrow hanging ribbon.)  When that ribbon eventually began to shred after many years of use, I bought the wider ribbon and I much prefer that look.  (See picture just above for wide ribbon look.)

After you've purchased your wreaths and your ribbon, you'll need to cut the ribbon and wrap it around the top of your wreath.  Previously I stapled the ribbon together after wrapping it around the top of the wreath.  That lasted for many years but eventually the staples began to cause the ribbon to shred.  That's when I changed the hanging ribbons out to the wider 2 1/2 inch ribbon.  I hot glued it together after wrapping it around the top of the wreath and it has held.  (see pic below)  Be careful if you use hot glue; you can feel it through the ribbon and it's HOT!

I purchased ready-made bows at Michael's for half-price after Christmas one year.  I chose bows with long flowing tails.  They look so pretty swirling in the breezes all during the month of December.  Again, there's a little investment in the beginning for your bows, but they last for many, many years.  These bows are around 8 years old now and they still look new.  You can place your bows at the top of your wreath or at the bottom--whatever look you prefer.  I'm a "bow at the bottom" girl.

Once you have all the hanging ribbons attached to your wreaths and all the bows are wired on, it's time to hang them.  Now, go get your 28 foot extension ladder and call your insurance company for a little extra life insurance.  Kidding!  If you have double sash windows (hope you do because that's what this tutorial covers) lower the top sash about a foot and push your be-ribboned wreath out the top.  Hold fast to the end of the hanging ribbon or you'll get some extra exercise running down to the yard to fetch it back.  I speak from experience.

I have wood windows so I just stick a push pin through the ribbon into the top of the window.  I try to hit the same hole each year.

Normally I let the tail of the ribbon drape down, but this year I decided to pull out my ancient candles and use them in the windows along with the wreaths.  So I pinned the tail of the hanging ribbon up with the push pin.

I haven't put the candles in the windows for many years.  In the past I tried battery operated candles but they were not nearly as bright as the electric ones.  So I donated those and stuck with the electric.  I just set the candle over the window lock and then run the cord through the side gap where the shutters close.  There's just enough space for it to fit.  I usually tape the cord in place on the window with a small piece of masking tape.  You could also place the candle on the window sill, if you prefer.  My shutters won't close with it there, but that would work for curtained windows.  Just make sure the bulb isn't touching the fabric or anything else that could burn or catch fire.

Oh, this year I noticed the flickering bulbs in Walmart.  They were around .97 cents each.  I bought some but after trying just one, I think I'm going to return them.  They are really pretty, but not very bright.  I may give them another try.  They really were pretty flickering red and orange in the window.

See what's outside this dormer window?  It's the top of the camellia I shared a couple of days ago HERE.  The cold hasn't killed the blooms, yet.  Unfortunately, it's just a matter of time.  Hopefully it will bloom again in late winter when it's really supposed to be blooming.  Georgia weather is so crazy.  Two days ago it was 70 degrees--now it's freezing out.  No wonder the plants are so confused.

Now, I want to show you something new I did this year since I'm using the electric candles in the windows again for the first time in many years.  It's a big improvement over what I've done in the past and was prompted by having a secretary in front of the outlet I would normally use.  I didn't want to unload everything out of the secretary to move it, so I decided to use the outlets you see on either side of the room.  (Note the arrows.)  It was still a bit of a pain getting behind the trunk on the left and the table on the right to plug in the extension cords.  They would be easier to move or reach behind than the hutch, but still a pain.

So I headed over to Big Lots (Walmart has these, too) and purchased several of these extension cords with the foot operated, on/off switch.   I bet you use these for your Christmas tree.  They are the best things!  You just step on it to turn your lights on or off---no fumbling behind furniture or trees to get to the outlet to unplug the lights on the tree, or in this case, the windows.  I definitely recommend this for window lights if you can hide it behind a table skirt or something near by.  I put one downstairs in the living room and I can turn the candles in both windows on and off with just one step.  This is going to make turning the candles on and off a cinch this year.  Another great option would be timers for your candles.  I saw bunches of those at Walmart, as well.  I may try those next year.

A final daylight view, taken with the new, correctly-focusing, camera.   See what I mean about the long ribbon streamers hanging below...love that look!  I hung the wreaths a tad higher than normal on the top windows so the candle would be right in the center of the wreath.  Normally they would be down just a bit lower and the tails of the bow would be almost touching the window sill.  I still haven't hung the wreaths or put the lights in the garage windows behind the magnolia and camellia.  The garage windows are filled with dead buggies and I just didn't feel like dealing with that yesterday.  Yuck.  What is it about garage windows?  They are bug magnets!

A previous year's view of the dormer windows with the garage windows below.  This pic was taken with the skinnier hanging ribbons, before I changed them out for the 2 1/2 inch wide ribbon.  The wider ribbon just looks so much better than the skimpy narrow ribbon for hanging.  I see camellias about to flower out in this pic, too.  I guess the camellia does this every year around this time.

Outdoor wreaths look as pretty from inside as they do outside.

An evening view:  I think I may need to dial down the wattage on those outside lanterns.  I never realized how bright they were until I took this picture.  You'll need to wear sun glasses if you visit my house at night.  Ha!

Did you notice the "Blue Hour" was approaching as I took this pic?  Of course, I couldn't see that through the camera--that sneaky Blue Hour.  You can read all about it, HERE.

What's your favorite Christmas decorating idea each year?  Do you hang wreaths from your windows?  Anyone with metal windows who hangs wreaths?  If the top sash lowers, perhaps the ribbon can just drape across the top and catch when the window is raised.  My windows aren't quite snug enough for that technique, hence my use of a push pin.

Would love to hear your technique for hanging wreaths.  Do you also use the electric candles?  Has anyone found  some really bright battery-operated candles and if so, how long do the batteries last?  Love hearing your ideas!

Happy wreath hanging!