Don’t worry—there are ways you can start getting your holiday on now and make your home more festive, without screaming “Christmas.” Try these tips to create a cozy, holiday vibe that’ll take you all the way through New Year’s. “I love any type of fruit, bittersweet, evergreen, nut, pinecone,” says interior designer Benjamin Bradley, host of Holiday Home Makeover With Mr. Christmas. “Bowls mounded with persimmon or pomegranate with a sprig of bittersweet or evergreen look festive, bring a nod to the changing seasons, and can be further enhanced as we get closer to the holidays. Pinecone garlands, undecorated miniature live evergreens, or ilex berry branches placed in crocks, baskets or vases again bring a festive air to a space without saying Christmas.” “Many people have adapted the small clear fairy lights for year-round use, and there is certainly nothing like the twinkle of a holiday light to bring a sense of warmth to the long, dark evenings,” Bradley says. “String them through an indoor plant, swirl them among the pinecones in the basket or just arrange them around a vase and let them drip off of the table.” (Bonus: Putting up exterior lights early when the weather is milder lets you avoid spending hours outside hanging the lights when the wintry weather sets in.) “I have, for several years, loved brown for both Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he says. “It picks up the colors of the pinecones, and when mixed with vibrant greens, is stunning. Brown with all of the autumnal golds and oranges is the perfect foil for Thanksgiving. Persimmon, green, and brown make a very sophisticated and natural-feeling Christmas when combined with the gleam of freshly polished brass and natural moss.” “If you live in the West, nuts, moss, lichen-covered branches, along with rose hips, gourds and pumpkins can take you from Halloween all the way through the New Year, particularly if you pick white pumpkins and gourds that are in the white and green color range,” Bradley says. “If you live in the North, take that same theme, but add some snowflakes, snowballs, and snow to your display and you are good until spring.”
