Martha Stewart With Soul

Ten years ago I was fascinated with the Martha Stewart phenomenon. How did she sell so many expensive, time-consuming products that take you away from your family (decorating cookies for 5 hours) instead of bringing you closer, which is what everyone really wants. I spent a good deal of time thinking about that question until I realized that décor and food are the two things that we instinctively associate with creating a warm inviting happy home. It’s natural for us to want to buy anything related to food and décor. So that is the point at which I decided to give women what they really want – through Once Upon A Family – tips and tools that help us bring our families closer. Since décor is such a no-brainer, all we have to do is weave those meaningful traditions and activities into our holiday décor and we can give our families what they need most.

Every month I will be putting together, and sharing with you, my own personal holiday table décor that matches the Five-in-One Family Fun idea downloads. I hope you will enrich your family holidays with some of these ideas that are not only pretty, but will also make planning get-togethers easier and create some family fun at the same time. When it comes to holiday table décor, I have three bits of advice:

1. Keep your linens and dinnerware basic and simple. You don’t need to spend money buying themed tablecloths or dishes with Thanksgiving leaves or reindeer patterns. You will only use them once a year, anyway. Bring out your white or ivory tablecloths and buy 1 1/3 yards of small textured prints and hem them into 45” squares that you can overlap onto the center of any size table. Use solid napkins or make them out of a fun print that fits the holiday colors but is not a themed pattern. Use solid dishes in ivory, white, red or gold. They are great year around and you can mix them together when you have a large crowd.

2. Create your themed holiday look with inexpensive decorative pieces like the strand of leaves I bought on sale at Joanne’s Fabrics for $2.99. That was enough to wrap around 4 hurricane candle vases, which I found at world market for only 3.99 each. The candles and vases can be used all year and it’s trendy right now to fill the vases around the candle with small items like hazelnuts, dried corn, cranberries, etc. The great thing is that I can save the decorative items in a box and bring them out next Thanksgiving – saving me time and money every year. At the same time I am giving my family what they need: the comfort and security of traditions that repeat themselves over and over again.

3. Make one of your family traditions a part of the centerpiece. The things we do together year after year – our family traditions – create the memories that connect us forever. Decorative visuals are just as powerful as holiday tastes and smells in bringing back vivid memories of good times spent together. Hang your Thankful Leaves on a Thankful Tree such as the Once Upon a Family Tree you see in the photograph. Or make your own tree with simple dried branches in a vase with stemmed berries. A potted plant will also work very nicely.

By combining holiday decorating ideas with the meaningful Five-in-One Family Fun downloads, we bring to you a little “Martha Stewart with Soul.”

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