Feeling a little SAD*? Does the house look stark and bare now that the Christmas decorations and all those Christmas cards have come down?
There is all that superstition about taking down the decorations - if you can remember exactly what you are supposed to do! Is it before midnight or after midnight? Is it by the 5th or not before the 6th of January that they should come down?
After you have packed away the tinsel and the tree and coiled up the lights, there are still several months of dull winter to get through.
Here’s how to make it a brighter New Year this year with winter warming ideas for a little extra sparkle in your home.
If you had outdoor lights this Christmas, by all means take down the Santas, Reindeers and the flashing Merry Christmas signs, but leave your simple lights trailing through the tree by the door for a welcoming glimmer while daylight is still so limited. If you don’t already have lights, now is a good time to pick some up for a song in the sales. And take cheer from the fact that the year has turned. The shortest day was way back on the 21st of December – each day now the precious daylight is increasing.
Indoors, while fresh flowers might add a promise of Spring, don’t dismiss vivid faux flowers (fake to you and me) for an easy blast of colour. I am a great fan of fake. They don’t turn brown and die on you and there is no smelly water to deal with. I have gathered together a whole trunk-full so that I can produce a pleasing floral display at any time of the year.
Try this idea for a modern twist: Take a simple clear glass vase, a selection of bright faux blooms, and a piece of chiffon that picks out one of the stronger colours in your bunch.
A delicate translucent scarf will do job. I saved a gorgeous two-tone circular purple/red chiffon wrapper from a box of Belgian chocs that I happened to receive (I never can bring myself to throw such pretty items away although they are only packaging!) which dramatically reflects the two boldest blooms in my selection.
Loosely wrap the stems, which are definitely not the prettiest part of fake flowers, with the chiffon before popping them into the vase. Carefully tease the chiffon out with something like a knitting needle to fill the space inside the vase and let a little of the chiffon billow at the rim for a neat finish.
Don’t put all the tree lights away yet. Take another glass vase or two, or an empty goldfish bowl, and coil your lights inside. Battery-operated lights are good for this with no trailing cables or need for nearby sockets. Place a vase at each end of a mantelpiece, or in the middle of the sideboard for an extra evening glow in your sitting room.
Don’t forget the traditional: pile up some pine cones in a dish with bright orange satsumas or clementines and trail a bit of ivy here and there. Add a few baubles to your fruit bowl for fun.
If you have a real fire, now is the time to light it. Logs are best, and often available from your local garden centre, or sometimes from country parks when they thin out the trees, and kindling can be found at many garages. It’s also a great opportunity to use up the old correspondence you usually shred to help get the fire started, or a good way to get rid of some junk mail.
Have a fireplace but don’t want to go to the trouble of lighting a real fire? Then put a big dish in the fireplace heaped with a string of tree lights for a comforting flameless glow. Add a twist of that pretty wire-edged ribbon that’s really too good for presents for some extra colour.
Keep back a few of your dangly ornaments for a adding a little sparkle to a cupboard door or drawer. Trail a string of red, green, or gold shiny beads along a shelf, through a line of votive candles to enhance their warm light. Make your deccies really earn their keep. Try thinking of them as winter decorations, not just Christmas ones, and keep the cheer going until Spring. Have a Happy New Year!
*(Seasonal Affective Disorder)