Make a tabletop Christmas tree: Festivity on a small scale (1977)
Five different ideas for the holiday house
Every home has room for a Christmas tree, even if it’s only the tabletop variety. As the focus of Yuletide decorating, or as the finishing touch to the holiday table, see the festive joy a small tree can bring to your home.
1) A miniature traditional little Christmas tree
This little Christmas tree has beads and bows for trimmings, a profusion of hand-decorated gifts clustered beneath and a Christmas-colored tartan cloth have transformed the corner of this elegant room into the center of seasonal spirit and activity.
2) Start a new family tradition with a teepee-style little Christmas tree
Store small gifts inside a “teepee tree” and enjoy the color it adds while you wait for Christmas morning to open both the tree and the presents. Sew the teepee out of sturdy canvas, then decorate (we’ve used Indian silk bows).
3) The sweets in a little Christmas tree centerpiece
This “sweetmeat tree” centerpiece is sure to please your guests — if you let them eat it. (Go ahead — you can always make another!) Our tree is a sweet tooth’s delight — strawberries, candied citrus rind, dried apricots, grapes, sugar-coated almonds and gumdrops are for taste as well as eye appeal.
4) Show visitors how your family celebrates the happy times
Take pictures all year long and by Christmas, you’ll have a tree full. Frame the photos with wrapping paper and yarn, then tie to the tree with ribbons. PS: Give the photographs to Grandma and Grandpa for a post-holiday gift. Camera and film are by Kodak.
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5) A little Christmas tree with appetizers
When guests arrive, they’ll gather around a little Christmas tree ornamented with hors-d’oeuvres. We’ve bedecked this sturdy pine with baskets of raw vegetables; breadsticks and more vegetables are tied on with bows. Dips and refills are handy beneath the tree.
Trees 2, 3, 4 and 5 were photographed against a background of 18th-century English antiques at Landrigan & Stair, Inc., New York City