Holiday Decor that Lasts from Thanksgiving to Christmas

Planted inside transferware bowls, a series of baby Norfolk Island pines brighten up a mantel. The idea also works for shelves, bookcases, or tabletops. Choose bowls in complementary colors or plain white, whichever best suits your existing holiday decor color scheme. Cover the dirt with nuts and acorns or with a collection of mini ornaments.

This fun holiday door decoration will welcome guests with the festive scent of evergreen and a friendly message. Fold over the top of a wide burlap ribbon and cut a slit through both layers to slide over a doorknob. Use adhesive letters to spell out a message and use wire to attach bits of evergreen and pinecones.

Editor's Tip: Create a handful of these door accents in just an hour or two -- just change the message on each one and use them on guest bedroom doors or the front door.

Trays filled with ornaments make a great holiday centerpiece. For warmth, temper the shine with small sprigs of greenery and miniature pinecones tucked between the ornaments or even inside small vases. Keep the vibe casual with a smattering of larger pinecones placed around or underneath the container.

Oversize glass containers and vases offer a great see-through way to display holiday colors. Start with a large tray and a few jars and containers in various sizes. Plant evergreen saplings (we used Golden cypress) in several of the containers and cover the soil with faux snow. For contrast, pile another jar or two with red fruits -- apples, pomegranates, or cherries -- or red ornaments. Place the collection in front of a window, at an entry, or as a centerpiece for your holiday table.

Hung from a chandelier or the ceiling, a petite juniper appears to float in midair. Use a vintage birdcage or wire basket to hang the tree in a small container. Cover the bottom with small pinecones or nuts, glue a faux bird to the top, and use a wide ribbon to hang the tree decoration at an appropriate height.

Oversize ironstone containers are perfect for this clever stair-step arrangement, which can sit either inside your home or on your front porch. Plant any dwarf or sapling evergreen in the containers (we used a trio of lacy 'Goldcrest' cypress trees). Print out your message on white scrapbook paper, then cut out circles and glue the letters to a colored paper backing. Tie the letters to the containers with a slender piece of contrasting ribbon and add lengths of wider satin ribbon for accent.

Turn the traditional Christmas wreath on its head with a handmade container for a live tree. Make a pouch by sewing the sides of a folded piece of burlap or a similarly styled dish towel. Wrap damp cheesecloth around the roots of a small sapling and place the tree into a plastic bag. Tie a few holiday-hue ribbons around the bag and attach bells or ornaments with hot glue or thread.

For a cheery holiday decoration, embellish a set of plain plates with a fun message. Adhere vinyl or paper letters to inexpensive white plates and mount with plate hangers or removable mounting strips. Add to the display with patterned plates of different sizes, play with horizontal and vertical arrangements, or keep it simple with just the monogrammed plates.

Inexpensive and easy to piece together, this clean-lined wreath makes the perfect accent for doorways or wall spaces. Assemble a variety of sizes of wooden disks, painting some and leaving others plain, and glue them to a wooden circle form. To give the wreath dimension, back a few of the smaller disks with wooden spools. Suspend the wreath with a length of contrasting ribbon to make it pop.

For decorations that smoothly transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas, start with neutral basics. A beveled edge mirror topped with simple white candles creates a classic foundation. For Thanksgiving, add a simple fall garland and mini pumpkins. When Christmas draws near, replace the harvest elements with pine boughs, clementines, and pinecones (as shown).

Tie bundles of bare tree and winterberry branches to the spindles in your staircase for an autumnal look. After Thanksgiving, tie pine boughs to the branches with pretty velvet ribbon, and wire Christmas ornaments around the velvet ribbon for extra color.

Tiered compotes are easy to dress up for any holiday. Simply arrange an assortment of seasonal elements on the trays for an instant centerpiece. Here, evergreen sprigs, pinecones, winterberries, and miniature ornaments spread Christmas cheer. For Thanksgiving, use apples, nuts, small ears of Indian corn, and other harvest essentials.

Winter may not be the time for a picnic, but don't store your picnic basket yet. This pretty plaid basket is filled with twigs secured in florist's foam and topped with frosted silk fruits and berries. This colorful arrangement works well inside and out.

Dress up existing table displays with the addition of small bunches of fresh pine greenery. A few sprigs inserted into a tiny pitcher are a lovely touch that takes just a moment to arrange. Replace with fresh greens about once a week.

This elegant floral arrangement is easy to re-create for each holiday. Soak a florist's foam sphere in water and cover it with Thanksgiving-hue roses. Leave a spot on the bottom of the sphere uncovered so it will sit securely on top of the urn. (Cut away the foam as needed to help it fit.)

For Christmas, simply replace the faded Thanksgiving blooms with brilliant red roses. Add a few small shiny ornaments by threading heavy wire through the ornament caps and twisting it to stay secure. Poke the ends of the wire into the florist's foam.

Small or narrow striped Christmas candies also work well as filler. Pair the colorful confections with white flowers and simple greenery.

Dress your fireplace mantel with a garland of pinecones to usher in the Thanksgiving season. For Christmas, add plenty of greenery and a reindeer or two. Inverted terra-cotta pots topped with clear glass votives work for both holidays when nestled amidst the other natural elements.

Tuck a small vase inside a larger glass urn and fill the space between the two with mixed nuts. Fill the small vase with water and add fresh flowers or greenery.

Count on classic white dishes and solid red linens to carry your decor from holiday to holiday. With the basics in place, add seasonal elements to give your table flair. Red amaryllis and evergreen sprigs add touches of Christmas to this table.

Stock up on linens with patterns in red or gold to use from Thanksgiving through Christmas. For this Christmas place setting, dark red-and-white toile napkins were wrapped with wide red satin ribbon and topped with winterberry sprigs. The same gold charger, white plate, and napkin take on a Thanksgiving air when raffia is substituted for the ribbon and pinecones for the berries.

Pinecones are a must-have for season-to-season decorating. Rich in texture, this natural element looks right at home in Thanksgiving and Christmas decor. Gather an assortment of pinecones and arrange in bowls to decorate a breakfront or sideboard. Add bright orange kumquats to contrast with the earthy brown cones. Tuck in evergreen sprigs and bright white flowers for a Christmas look.

Instead of just one, hang three wreaths on your front door for an unexpected touch. Adorn the wreaths with raffia bows for Thanksgiving and red velvet ones for Christmas. The golden retriever is optional, of course.

Create a seasonal arrangement for an outdoor window box. Insert tall elements, such as spruce tops and boxwood branches, into gravel. Use shorter branches to fill in around the rim of the box. Then add pops of color throughout the display with red berry branches.

This glass-front cabinet displays the homeowner's cherished transferware collection year-round. The brown-and-white scheme is perfect for Thanksgiving. Several red ceramic Santa boots filled with candy canes update the look for Christmas.