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Community Corner

Where the Hearth Is: Merging the Holidays

More Powder Springs folks are blending Thanksgiving decor into Christmas.

No sooner was the last piece of candy handed out for Halloween in our neighborhood than the Christmas decorations started to go up.

Even sooner at some of the Powder Springs stores.

“We changed out our Fall décor on Halloween, and now we’re going Christmas in a big way,” says Gloria Hildebrand of the  on Marietta Street in Powder Springs. 

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Which kind of skips over a major national holiday—Thanksgiving. 

My son complains that his favorite holiday gets left out. Our house is usually decked for Christmas by mid-November.

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So how do you decorate for America’s favorite feast day, with Christmas trees everywhere you go?

“You can go with candles that work for both holidays, like one with a nice cinnamon scent. And a lot of folks go with wreaths,” Hildebrand suggests. “Wreaths have become popular indoors as well as outdoors, and we’ve sold quite a few. You can even have wreaths surrounding the candles.”

The wreaths don’t have to be your basic holly-and-berries, or fir boughs-with-Christmas-bulbs and a bright red bow. You can go with dried berries or bent twigs, and change out the bows to suit the season, with fall colors in one, and brighter reds and greens in another.

Changing out one item or more in a table arrangement works, too, according to Terry Shead with the .

“You can use greenery for your framework. Maybe berries and greens and a candle," Shead says. "Or use evergreens with white and gold flowers, and switch out the gold with red for the day after Thanksgiving, if you’re hosting a tree trimming party the next day.”

The of the Powder Springs Florist point out that you shouldn’t expect cut flowers to last through both holidays, so changing them out makes sense.

He advises using a Christmas cactus for a centerpiece, if you’re looking for something to last through both holidays. 

“Actually,” he laughs, “they also call it ‘Thanksgiving’ cactus, depending on when it arrives.” 

Sutton also suggests a silk arrangement, if you don’t have time to switch décor, and you want something for the whole holiday season.

One of the prettiest holiday arrangements I’ve seen so far was on an end table at Ashley’s Furniture. It was an earth-toned urn with sprays of green twigs and cranberry-colored branches with “berries” on them. Since I serve cranberry sauce for both holidays, it worked for me.

Kim Kornblatt, now the owner of , says decorating for the holidays doesn’t have to be traditional.

“You don’t have to have a horn of plenty and pumpkins for Thanksgiving, and you don’t have to have Santa red for Christmas," she says. "You can have a tray with candles surrounded by gourds for Turkey Day, and switch out the gourds with holly berries for the day after.” 

Kornblatt’s not wedded to fall shades for Thanksgiving, either. “You can have a nice gold with a deeper red, which would work for Christmas, too. Mix in some natural elements from outdoors, and include different shades of green to balance it all. I’ve also seen people completely ignore traditional Christmas colors and decorate a tree in all blue.”

You don’t need traditional patterns, such as a turkey print or haystacks. I found a great deep red print fabric with big hydrangeas on it in Walmart that I stitched up into a table cloth for one Thanksgiving. (It's not tough to do; please remember, I just hand stitch, and using a basic basting stitch, I managed to finish it while watching back-to-back episodes of Pawn Stars.)

I found it worked with my Christmas decorations, too. 

More of the big department stores are leaning toward dinnerware that can support both holidays. I saw a Tuscan red set in one store that would look appropriate for either.

Most folks these days can’t afford to buy (or store, for that matter) a separate set of china for each holiday, but if you’re looking for some extra pizzazz, you can get it there. You may not even need a full set, just a couple of pieces to intersperse with your good china.

This is the time of year to use your “company best,” so don’t be afraid to set out the good crystal and silverware, and dig out the platters you have hidden under layers of Pyrex bowls. (Or is that just at my house?)

Light those tapers you never use. Make that table sparkle, and it’ll feel like a holiday, no matter what the color scheme.

Don’t forget the twinkle lights. They may be “tacky” to some, but mixing them into greenery on your mantle or in your bookcase makes your room feel magical and festive, no matter what holiday it is.

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