hristmas starts early— way
early— for Jennifer Grayson. In October,
she’s decking out trees in her Savannah home
design store. By Thanksgiving, she’s wrapping
gifts for holiday shoppers. Neither the retail
grind nor the usual hustle-bustle, though,
keeps Jennifer and her husband, Richard, from
making Christmas extra-special for their two
kids, Sophie, 9, and Gray, 7. “ Sure, the season
gets hectic, but you only have a few years to
put traditions in their hearts,” she says. “ I’ve
just learned to stay organized so I can make
things magical year after year.”
That magic starts the day after Thanks-
giving, when Tommy, a toy elf that serves as
a Christmas conscience, appears. When the
kids are good, the elf moves to a new hiding
spot for them to find; if they’ve been a bit
naughty, he sits tight for another day. “It’s a
way to get them to reflect on their day and
remind them Christmas is a time to be your
best and think about others,” Jennifer says.
Other easy-does-it traditions help Jennifer
and Richard squeeze in more together time
with the kids. There’s
The Night Before
Christmas,
read over and over during the
season near a crackling fire in the living room.
And there’s Christmas Eve, when Richard
and the kids make sugar cookies, heavy on
sprinkles, that the family delivers to neigh-
bors. “Really, what we do are just simple, old-
fashioned things,” Jennifer says.
Simplicity extends to the decorating.
“ Some people bring Christmas into the house
in one day, but I take it a little at a time,”
Jennifer says. On walks, she and the kids hunt
for inspiration. The topper on the tree is one
o f their scavenges. “I was holding a few palm
fronds, and I kept thinking there had to be
something I could do with them,” Jennifer
says. Wired together, they’re a star.
Though Jennifer changes the color scheme
every year— fun, upbeat colors are her thing—
she doesn’t start from scratch. Freshening
up is as easy as changing ribbons— turquoise
and orange are part of this year’s multicolor
decor— or displaying only certain colors of her
vintage ornaments. “Every room o f my house
has something in it, even if it’s just a little,”
Jennifer says. “I’ve just learned to figure out
ways to keep things simple so I don’t lose
sight of what the season is about.”
"I love using bright colors at C hristm as— it’s
unexpected and fun,” says Jennifer, w ith Richard
and their kids, Sophie and Gray,
left
. Fresh garland
draping the porch railing,
above left,
is a m ust for
Jennifer. "T h ere’s som ething about sm elling it
w hile w alking up to the front door,” she says. On
the dining table,
above right
and
opposite,
she
loosely knots napkins instead of using rings and
fills glass globe vases w ith ornam ents. M agnolia
leaves in a bowl are an easy centerpiece.
