Christmas decor, warm and festive

Trimming the Christmas tree is a favourite rite in just about every household. The Victorian tradition of the bedecked fir tree is firmly rooted in Jamaican culture, from pulling out dusty boxes of ornaments used the year before to strategically draping the gold tinsel or simply unravelling the coloured lights.

Gone are the days of the standard tree with coloured tinsels, red bows and multi-coloured balls. Today, you can customise your tree and home decorations with innovation.

All Woman caught up with stylist/interior decorator, Ardelle DellaCosta and florist, Ann-Marie Weiz, who in the true spirit of the season, shared some of their decorating tips.

Walking into the lobby of the Terra Nova Hotel, it is hard to miss DellaCosta’s tree which is festive and warm.

“I feel trees must be comfortable in their surroundings so this is an old-fashioned tree for an old-fashioned building,” she explained.

“I have used mainly gilded fruits, apples and some tropical ones, flowers in metallic gold, gauze poinsettia and iridescent grape leaves as adornment,” she continued. “Instead of the ordinary ribbon, I have opted for pale metallic ribbon which I have used to drape the tree.”

When doing your tree at home, the first thing to do, DellaCosta instructed, is decide on a theme and the mood you want to create. The tree, she says, should match the tone of the house. To capture this feel, she suggests using table pieces to match, with the same materials and colour scheme.

“For the old-fashioned country feel, you can use cinnamon sticks tied together with raffia, and hang these on the tree instead of going out to buy ready-made decorations. Whatever your favourite fruits are, you can dry them, spray them in the colour of your choice and hang them on the tree,” she said.

If you are a single woman, there’s no excuse for not pampering your spirits; you can put up a soft, feminine tree that reflects you.

DellaCosta tells you how.

“You can do this tree in pink and pearls, different shades of pink for contrast,” she pointed out. “Decorate with pink Christmas balls, frosted or shiny, it does not matter, pale pink-wired ribbons and pink silk flowers. White fairy lights would be ideal, but pink lights will work just as well if you can get them.”

When you are through decorating your apartment, you can also try your hand at transforming his pad. Believe it or not, men do enjoy the glitter and glamour of the season. “Trimming the tree for the typical bachelor should be fun,” said DellaCosta. “Instead of gold ribbon, use tartan plaid. Hang gold balls, pine cones and bunches of cinnamon on his tree, tie the cinnamon sticks with the same plaid or you can use tree bark,” she went on.

“If he likes cars, try to get those miniature antique ones and hang these on the tree as well. The idea is to play on his hobby. Use white pepper lights,” she advised.

And for nature lovers? “I would suggest using breadfruit leaves, the one that folds up, and spray with gold and glitter to give a sheen. You could also use those large pods that fall off the ‘immortal tree’; these look great on any festive tree.”

Like DellaCosta, AnnMarie Weiz of Every Blooming Thing is busy this season farming festive ideas for Christmas trees and home decorations. Weiz has moved almost entirely away from using traditional ornaments and is making very good use of ethnic material.

“I use a lot of bramble” and twigs, dried pine cones, banana trash and bark, old manís beard, John Crow beads, pepper berries, dehydrated local fruits and so on,” she told All Woman.

A typical Christmas tree done by Weiz has a garland (instead of tinsel and ribbon) made from wired ëbramble”; twigs sprayed in either gold or silver based on the colour scheme, styrofoam balls wrapped in banana trash, bows creatively designed with banana trash and raffia. The tree would also likely feature miniature “banana” angels with flowing hair made from old man’s beard and eyes set with John Crow beads.

Bows and skirting would be made from bandanna material would also be used to drape the tree.

“The idea is to use what is available around the home and in the yard, instead of going out to purchase expensive imported decorations,” Weiz explains.

Apart from decorating Christmas Trees, Weiz has another delight: doing centrepieces and decorating for special occasions.

“One of my favourites for this season is an ensemble using just nuts and fruits,” she said. “For the centrepiece, I use two terra cotta pots, an eight-inch and a five-inch. I put the smaller one inside the larger one, and I use sheet moss and old man’s beard to cover the outer pot.”

She concluded: “The inside pot is then filled with pine cones, assorted nuts, almonds, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, pepper berries and dehydrated orange slices and peel. I top this off with a nine-inch pillar candle which is cinnamon scented. The napkin rings I do from moss, fresh pine and cinnamon sticks tied with natural raffia.”