Nicola's Home Blog

Maeve cuts the raffia for our evergreen and bittersweet wreaths last Christmas.

No one looks forward to Christmas like a child. And nothing awakens my inner child like creating a magical holiday atmosphere for my own daughter, Maeve. As part of building her anticipation for the celebration to come, I enlist her help in decorating our home for the holidays.

Each year, one of the first projects we work on together is creating individual wreaths for each of the windows in my recently renovated 18^th-century home (take a virtual tour here). Because I chose bright white shiplap siding for the house, I have a wonderful canvas for holiday accents, and I take full advantage of it every year. As Maeve grows older she is more and more of a help each holiday season—but she has been my best assistant from the very beginning, and I have learned several tricks for engaging her interest and imagination in the task at hand from a very early age.

Let children make choices. I like to vary the composition of my wreaths. When Maeve was much younger, I would ask her opinion but limit her choices—between two types of evergreen, or between bittersweet and holly. Now that she’s older, she can be part of the brainstorming process from the start. But asking (and respecting) her opinion gave her a sense of ownership over the project, and left her bursting with pride when neighbors and friends complimented her eye.

Take breaks. While busy parents try to complete big projects like decorating the tree or hanging lights all at once when we have the time, children can become overwhelmed, tired or bored, and lose interest. You want to keep it fun, so try to break the project up into manageable tasks. My wreaths involve many steps—for instance, fan folding twists of raffia and cutting the ends to open a festive spray of dried grasses. Watching the materials transform in stages transfixed Maeve and kept her having fun.

Mix it Up. While you are building a tradition by working together to set the stage for your holiday celebration, make sure you try new things each year. I made wreaths in oval shapes rather than circles for a fresh and sophisticated twist on an old standby.

Recruit reinforcements. Sharing the project with peers is a great way to keep kids involved. Maeve’s cousins and school friends have often been part of our decorating, and school vacations make the holidays a wonderful time to have a craft party.

Tell a Story. The last wreath we make is the wreath for the front door—always a showier, more elaborate interpretation of the materials used in the other window wreaths. When I was a child, my father always hung a sleigh bell we found in our backyard on our front door wreath. Our parents told us it fell from Santa’s sleigh, and to this day, I believe them. I tell the story of the bell’s magical provenance to Maeve each year when we hang it on the door to our own home, inside the wreath we made together. Her eyes light up each time it jingles, announcing the arrival of mysterious packages, friends and family bundled up against the cold, and all the magic of the holidays.