• Choose a color scheme or follow a traditional red and green layout when you decorate for the winter holidays.christmas fairies image by sumos from Fotolia.com
  
  If you're going to be home for the holidays this winter, take a few moments to beautify your home first. Follow these winter holiday decorating ideas and turn your home into a winter wonderland. Whether you entertain guests or simply enjoy a family holiday at home, your home can become a refuge and a getaway this holiday season when you decorate for the winter holidays.
  
  

Let it Snow

• Snowflakes and snowmen provide a nice backdrop for winter decorating because they can last the whole season and don't have to be tied to one holiday or another. While a snowman in a red and green suit may be associated with Christmas, one wearing blue could be dressed in his Hanukkah best, so the same snowman with two outfits crosses holiday borders. Ice blue and white are ideal colors for a snowman theme and they bring you a white holiday season whether you have snow outside or not.
  
  

Scented Accents

• The winter holidays are strongly tied to scents of every kind, from baking foods and desserts to wintergreen trees and warm fireplaces. Use candles, potpourri and scented oil warmers in your home decorating plans this holiday season to fill your home with the scents of the seasons, even on days when you aren't baking five dozen holiday cookies.
  
  

Organic Decor

• Care2 advises using natural items, such as fruits and spices, in your winter decorating plans. For instance, try sprucing up your mantle--literally--by adding extra branches or trimmings from your Christmas tree on top of the mantle to decorate it for Christmas. Then add a string of white lights around the branches and nestle small ornaments on top. Use hollowed-out fruit instead of traditional candleholders on your table; as the candle burns the fruit will get warm and the fragrance of the fruit will bring a naturally delicious scent to the table.
  
  

A Child's Touch

• Let your children help decorate your home for the holidays and you will help them get into the holiday spirit. Have kids paint their palms with red and green child-safe paint and then stamp them onto white heavy cardstock. Cut out the handprints and string them together on a ribbon, attaching each handprint to the ribbon with a stapler. String this ribbon over your windows and doors or hang it from your mantle or a bookshelf to serve as holiday garland.
  
  

A Clear Choice

• One large, glass cylindrical vase or bowl can become the base for a variety of home decor projects. Turn your vase into a centerpiece when you fill it with items that coordinate with the holiday or your table setting color scheme. For Hanukkah, fill the vase with small dreidels, blue and silver sequins or confetti and white shredded paper. For Kwanzaa, fill it with harvest fruits and vegetables. For Christmas, fill it with round ornaments or oranges, cloves and basil leaves. When the holidays end, save the vase for the next time you need a centerpiece for a dinner party on any day of the year.