28 
House & Garden 
CHRISTMAS BEGI NS AT HOME 
Tradition and the Part It Plays in Our Modern Celebration of the Pay. 
Suggestions for the Use of Living Christmas Trees and Other Features 
ROBERT STELL 
M ORE than any other festival of the year, 
Christmas is a season of virile color. 
We think of Easter in terms of white, of 
Thanksgiving in the browns and golds of 
autumn. But the colors of Christmas are 
glowing red and lusty green, sturdy and full of 
wholesome cheer. 
It has been so for centuries. Our holly was 
an emblem of peace and goodwill among the 
early Romans—its very name is but a form 
of the word “holy.” Pine, olive and myrtle 
have long been symbols of the 
joyous season. The one excep¬ 
tion to the rule of healthy color 
is the mistletoe, whose pale 
leaves and berries have retained 
somewhat of the religious sig¬ 
nificance which they held in the 
times of the Druids. 
Look at it as you will, tradi¬ 
tion plays a large part in the 
Christmas festivities. To noth¬ 
ing connected with the outward 
forms of the season does it cling 
more closely than to the mistle¬ 
toe, although certain iconoc¬ 
lasts have made uncompli¬ 
mentary remarks about this 
plant’s habits of living and 
generally cheerless appearance. 
In ages past men believed that 
fairies sought shelter from the 
cold among its leaves, and that 
he who hung it above his fire¬ 
place offered hospice to the good 
sprites. The Ilex which the Latins used to 
send to convey their good wishes to friends was 
nothing less than holly; and the Yule-log of 
Merrie Englande and the North was as much 
a part of the day’s ritual as the singing of 
carols or the eating of plum pudding. 
Our modern Christmas decorations of the 
house are based on these customs of former 
days, and it would be almost sacrilege to 
violate their traditions. On the other hand, 
there is no reason for us to handle them pre¬ 
cisely as do all our neighbors, 
submerging individuality—and 
sometimes a sense of humor as 
well—in rigid adherence to pre¬ 
scribed forms. The spirit of the 
day is one of cheery well-being; 
let our reactions to it hold less 
of formalism and more of our¬ 
selves. The season’s festivities 
need lifting out of the realism of 
merely purchasing so many red 
paper bells, such and such a 
quantity of gilt balls and cotton 
for the tree, and a carefully 
computed number of tinsel gew¬ 
gaws and danglers here, there 
and everywhere. Let us give our 
imaginations a little play and 
test our abilities as real decora¬ 
tors. 
In making ready the house 
for Christmas there is no lack 
of materials and ideas from 
which to draw. Holly wreaths, 
Really, there is no 
reason why Christmas 
decoration should be 
rated as a strictly indoor 
sport. While you are in 
the right Yuletide spirit, 
you might just as well 
let yourself go and start 
things off on the th es- 
hold—the faithful little 
trees that guard the 
portal are good places 
to begin 
It is a bitter fact that, 
in all too many house¬ 
holds, it is Christmas 
for everybody else, but 
iust December twenty- 
fifth for the dog. Re¬ 
member to put Rover's 
name well up toward 
the top of the Christ¬ 
mas list; don’t let his 
pretty faith in Santa 
Claus be hopelessly 
shattered 
