by Lenna Gonya

Created on: November 09, 2009   Last Updated: November 16, 2011

Mantles are wonderful, traditional locations to showcase holiday decorations, and the best thing is that they don't need to be an expensive addition to your decorating budget. You probably have some treasures on your mantle already, a grouping of special mementos, vases, pictures etc. So, changing the seasons on your fireplace mantel can be as simple as adding items that represent each holiday. For safety's sake, if you have a working fireplace, however, the first thing to take into consideration is not to have overhanging, or highly flammable items near the fire below.

Thanksgiving is all about family, friends, and those blessing that come from nature and the bounty of harvest. Corn, wheat, fruit, and nuts were all an important part of the diet of the first people to celebrate the harvest season in the New World,. They look beautiful in a basket on the mantle, surrounded by pictures of what we are most thankful for at this season, our family and friends.

Today, there are fruit and vegetables made from any number of materials, from cloth, to beads, colonial realistic to modern shiny metal. Any of these will look good in an arrangement with baskets or decorative glass dishes. It all depends on your decorating style and how it blends in with your individual taste. You can add a background with one of your favorite seasonal paintings, by leaning it against the wall on the mantle.

If you have children in the family, or even if you don't, design a Thanksgiving diorama, a three dimensional scene. It's rustic and not formal by any means, but it is fun to build. You can find inexpensive figurines in any discount store, add a few twigs and pine, and even, a small stick built cabin, and you have a Pilgrim scene. Kids enjoy gluing twigs together to build their own cabins. Another project you can involve the kids in is a holiday log candle holder, which also makes a good focal point for the mantle. Find a small log, about four or five inches in diameter, and someone with power tools. Cut the log in two, put flat side down, and carve out holes in the top large enough for a couple of candles, whatever size you choose. Now, the kids part. They can glue on leaves, stones, shells, or whatever decoration they choose for your holiday log. And what better place to display a holiday candle log than on your mantle.

Once the Thanksgiving season is over, you just might want to keep some of the greenery and other items and incorporate them into the Christmas decor.

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