We all know the famous poem written by Clement Moore. It begins, “The Night Before Christmas, and all through the house…” Why not use this delightful well-loved poem to bring magic and enchantment into your house this Christmas?

Night Before Christmas Mantle Decor

It’s a good idea to cut a piece of plastic to fit your mantle. You can use a painter’s drop sheet or a cleaner’s bag for this. It protects your mantle from damage. Then, place a thin layer of buffalo snow or a piece of quilt bat over the plastic to give the look of snow. If you like, you can create hills or drifts by using boxes to raise the snow.

Trim the mantle with left over Christmas tree greenery, or use artificial garland. Drape it or fasten it straight. The option is yours. Either way looks terrific. If you drape the garland, hang candy canes from it. Some stores sell sugar plum or life saver candy garland that looks very realistic. Drape a string of candy over or among the greenery.

Purchase a Santa, a sleigh and eight reindeer that are the same scale to give your scene a more realistic look. If you want to add Rudolph to the front of the team, buy a reindeer and use a red glass bead for a nose. This can be attached with a drop of school glue or a glue gun. Making small name tags for the reindeer is a nice touch, but not necessary.

Use Santa and his sleigh as the focus of your mantel theme. Add a few small illuminated houses that are approximately the same scale as your Santa and reindeer. These are easily found in any store that sells Christmas villages.

Pick up a few miniatures presents, make a small red Santa bag out of some red fabric and slip the false presents inside, making sure that some are showing at the top of the bag. Place the bag in the back of Santa’s sleigh for an authentic look.

Arrange four pair of reindeer in front of the sleigh. If you’re using Rudolph, set him ahead of the other reindeer, and centered. If the reindeer don’t have harness, make some out of ⅛ inch ribbon, or a little colored Christmas string. Black or red ribbon works perfectly, especially if the reindeer you purchased is white.

Buy miniature mice to place beside Santa’s sleigh or in front of the houses. This represents “not even a mouse.”  Over the mantle, hang a moon-shaped lamp, which can be found at most Christmas novelty shops. Hang your stockings and add any finishing touches

Night Before Christmas Dinner Table Theme

Your table can be decorated to compliment your mantle scene. Cover it with a red, green or white tablecloth. In the center, place a thin layer of buffalo snow or quilt batting and sprinkle with a bit of Christmas glitter. Place a sleigh and Santa in the center of the table, adding four teams of reindeer and Rudolph. You may want these to be a different size than the ones on the mantle, or possibly you’d like to use ones that are identical.

Sprinkle gum drops and life savers on the snow around the sleigh and add Santa and his bag of gifts. Place miniature mice and a few miniature trees around the sleigh.

Cut stockings out of red or green felt, sew, and fasten to the edges of your table. If you’d rather not sew, or don’t know how, miniature stockings can be found in dollar and discount stores. If desired, stand or lay a miniature copy of Clement Moore’s book beside your centerpiece.

Night Before Christmas Tree Theme

There are hundreds of items that will add a magical, enchanted look to your Christmas tree. Add several strings of miniature lights and two strings of Santa lights to your tree. Create a theme within a theme by adding only red, blue or clear lights. Blue brings a unique look, as it can represent the night sky. Add the Santa lights to the center of the tree, or the bottom.

When the lights are secure and you have the effect you are looking for, begin to hang ornaments on your tree. Dollar, discount, liquidation stores, as well as flea markets, garage and yards sales, antique shops and auction sales are good places to scout out some great decorations that will fit this theme perfectly. If price isn’t an object, drop in to a Christmas boutique. Though these stores can be a little pricey, they carry hundreds of delightful and intriguing items to add to your décor.

Wherever you decide to shop for decorations, you will find a wide variety of ornaments that will fit into your theme. Miniature drums, balls, musical instruments, acrylic stars, moons snowflakes and snowmen will add a natural look to the tree. Hang a miniature porcelain doll, ornaments depicting children, soldiers, trains, books and a string of gingerbread house lights all add to the charm.

Seek out candy cane and life saver garland to drape over the branches. Buy several miniature copies of Clement Moore’s book. Add a bit of red, green or gingham ribbon to hang it from the tree. The ideas for this theme are endless.

Add the finishing touch by adding a Santa tree-topper to your tree. These are available in red, white, blue and green. It’s your choice if you go modern or traditional.

When you’ve arranged your ornaments to your satisfaction and Santa is gazing down from the top of your tree, it’s time to add a tree-skirt. If you sew, stop by the fabric store and purchase Night Before Christmas fabric that’s been pre-quilted. This comes in rich blue with Santa and his team flying over the houses on the big night.

If you don’t have a tree-skirt pattern at home, pick one up when you purchase the fabric. You will also need a spool of thread, piping or another type of trim. If you don’t know how to sew, ask a family member or friend to whip up a tree-skirt. Seamstresses who work out of their home will make a tree-skirt for you in short order. Shop around. Seamstresses should be able to sew a tree-skirt for between $20.00 and $30.00.

If all else fails, drape the pre-quilted fabric around the Christmas tree stand, or use a Christmas afghan or quilt. Once this has been done, place several porcelain dolls, balls and other small toys under the tree to give it an old-fashioned look. Wagons or rocking horses are great if you have enough space and have them in the basement or attic.

Once you have all of these things taken care of, shut out the lights in the room, light the village houses on the mantle, plug in the tree and turn on the moon-shaped lamp. Now, sit back, relax and listen to a little Christmas music while enjoying the beautiful scene on your mantle. Your room will be filled with magic, charm and enchantment that will be the talk of the neighborhood.