I really enjoy decorating for the holidays, both indoors with an eclectic combination of German, Scandinavian, and 1950s American pieces, and outdoors with lights (though I am finding my tolerance of perpetually tangled lights and extension cords is waning as I get older!)

Both indoors and out, I enjoy decorating with greenery--in the window box on my shed, along a fence, in a pot, in baskets or bowls, and in unusual places like a mitten:



I was really bummed when I lost the partner to this mitten two years ago and kept saving the solitary wool glove in hopes of the other one turning up. I was finally about to part with the single mitten when it struck me that some greenery including blue juniper berries would set it off nicely. I tied it with some left-over ribbon to the back of a wood rocking chair that sits on my side porch.

Also something as simple as a few white pine branches dress up this little birdhouse, which is hung on a section of decorative fence at the front of my house:



I've been teaching classes on making an evergreen centerpiece for three years now and really enjoy it. Two weeks ago, I taught the class at Hidden Lake Gardens to a group of enthusiastic crafters:



Only one of them was brave enough to appear in the photo with her creation:



It's fascinating how people can pick from the same sets of "ingredients" and come up with unique creations!




Click for the photo set of everyone's finished creations.