Goodbye, tinsel

From shagadelic to New Age, ideas for alternative holiday decorating

by David Valdes Greenwood

Photos by Joel Veak

Who knows why you're not into traditional holidays? Maybe it was a bad experience with Santa, he of the suspicious beard and fascist boots. Perhaps the fruit in last year's Kwanzaa bounty led to an infestation of fruit flies from which you never quite recovered. Or maybe you just don't have the attention span for eight days of Hanukkah. Whatever your excuse, you just don't feel like embracing the seasonal norms. Still, you get a pang of jealousy when you see the apartments of friends come alive with festive decorations. While lights and tinsel improve the face value of even the tiniest, most overpriced studio in Davis Square, a case of holiday aversion leaves your humble place in the dark.

Having experienced the tug-of-war -- I refuse to do Christmas, but I love to decorate like a Martha Stewart cultist -- I decided long ago to solve the problem by filling my house with alternative holiday decorations. What exactly does that mean? Anything I like. Trust me, it works. You just pick a theme, find a way to make the house sparkle, and go with it -- it will be clear from the seasonal context that these are your holiday decorations, even if no one has ever seen anything like them.

Here are two possible decorating motifs, just to get you started. The first is best suited to people who love camp and kitsch; the second is intended for those with a modicum of restraint, even in their cultural rebellion.

---

A shagadelic holiday

Austin Powers didn't catch on because of his subtlety. People flocked to the two movies and the related merchandise because Austin gave them permission to be as tacky as they liked. If you were among the inspired, Urban Outfitters (361 Newbury Street, Boston, 617-236-0088) is a good first stop on the road to gaudy excess. Four-inch mirror-ball ornaments ($5) capture light in tiny shards of glass (tinted blue, purple, or silver) and reflect it back in psychedelic patterns. Though later associated with disco, these babies originated as good, trippy fun in the '60s. Hang a dozen of them from strings of different lengths around a room, and your head will be spinning soon enough.

You've covered the glitter -- now for the glam. And is anything more swingy than a cocktail? Like a snowman or a dreidel, the right martini glass could be the perfect icon for your holiday. You can check out Urban Outfitters' teeny martini glasses ($6), perfect reproductions in miniature (complete with olive), to dangle about the room. Or you can get full-size ones ($3.95) at Crate & Barrel (various locations) to use as candleholders; fill each glass with colored water and then float a votive in it. Will that look cool? Yeah, baby!

But what's a holiday without a little trimming? Forget tinsel -- how about feather boas? You'll find a variety of models for less than $20 at Jack's Joke Shop (38 Boylston Street, Boston, 617-426-9640). That's right: garland-à-go-go. Choose hot '60s colors (lime, teal, or shocking pink), and drape over mantels, string over doorways, or apply anywhere that used to demand the holly and the ivy.

All this technicolor paraphernalia may overwhelm your Klimt print or the Impressionist calendar your mom gave you, so take them down for the holidays and substitute something in the right spirit. Go to Stereo Jack's (1686 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-497-9447) and find yourself period album covers (starting at $1.99). Not only are they cheap, but these album covers have authentic period art, color, and style. How about a Bond Girl rolled up in bearskin for the cover of a Living Strings album? Or an Andy Warhol knockoff promoting some obscure band? Instant groove!

But the pièce de résistance is the anti-tree, the perfect centerpiece for your shagadelic display: a fiber-optics lamp ($450). Available at Abodeon (1731 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-497-0137), this actual '60s artifact has an orb-like chrome base and a fountain of fiber-optic cables, each ending in a point of light that changes color (white to pink to blue). Did I mention that the fountain rotates? Tell me a Christmas tree has ever done anything like that! Boas, mirror balls, and a spinning wonder -- it's a holiday that just won't behave.

Of course, not everyone wants to be surrounded by that much hilarity during this most reflective of seasons. For you, there is a more tasteful option.

---

A solstice celebration

The solstice, which marks the two times of year when the sun is farthest from the equator, is perhaps the oldest continually celebrated holiday known to mankind. Not tied to any one religion, it is still observed in various incarnations worldwide. Whether December brings the winter or the summer solstice depends on which hemisphere you're in, but either event has hopeful connotations: one marks the end of the shortest day of the year, thus heralding the return of sunlight; the other celebrates the bounty of summer and the oncoming harvest.

There are no strict rules for celebrating the solstice, of course, but when I celebrate, I draw together some of the niftiest world traditions. And there's no place like crunchy Cambridge to find the necessary artifacts -- one hour on Mass Ave and you'll be good to go.

First off, gather colorful masks, either to wear as you greet guests or to decorate your walls. This tradition is popular throughout Central and South America, as well as in some European festivals. Nomad (1741 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-497-6677) is like a one-stop mask mall. Papier-mâché animal faces (a Central American tradition) are on the less expensive side ($10.50) and are probably easiest to wear. But Nomad also has amazing Mexican masks by various well-known artists. Check out the work of Epiphanio Fuentes, whose bright Oaxacan masks (starting at $55) are made by his whole family, and the antique Juan Negro masks, which are heavy, hand-carved faces sold only in pairs ($550 for two). Another option: the Bolivian metal masks, which cover the whole head but have cutouts that allow your features to be seen ($140 to $250). These would also make stunning sculptures or centerpieces. Good masks don't come cheap, but they last for decades; and, fortunately, the rest of the holiday preparations are budget friendly.

Because the solstice represents the patterns of light and darkness, it is fitting to fill a room with candles (at our party, each guest lights one upon arrival). Iris (1782 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-661-1192) offers a variety of candles and candleholders to fit the needs of most tastes and wallets. From hand-dipped candles in deep sunset colors (starting at $1.95) to a demure white candle with interior cutouts and simple gold beading ($16), there are options for every aesthetic. For a truly individual light, try the candles made in Utah, with real flowers pressed into the wax ($13 to $17); the natural variations mean no two candles are exactly alike. You can rest these beauties on wide, flat recycled-glass candle stands ($12.50 to $24.50) in green, blue, or ochre. Tapered candles would sit nicely in round rock-like bases ($18 each), which have leaf prints etched into natural stone.

I like to decorate the house with celestial objects: suns, moons, and stars. Any heavenly body will do, but it would be hard to beat the upscale paper lanterns popping up in stores all over town. At Joie de Vivre (1792 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-864-8188), the large star lanterns ($30) feature a cage in which an ordinary light bulb hangs from an electric cord; the light is diffused by layers of colored paper with cutouts, so that the star glows. One of these purple, blue, or bronze stars would make any room dazzling. And Joie de Vivre carries other astral goodies, including Crystalites ($5), which are one-piece reflective fold-out stars that catch light the way a mirror ball does.

One of the happy consonances between holidays is that Christmas borrows its use of evergreens from the Germanic solstice celebrations. Villagers would tie golden objects (or anything reflective) to trees, and when the sun rose the morning after the solstice, the objects would light up, seemingly setting the forest ablaze. You can bring that tradition inside the house with fir boughs strung along the mantel and over windowsills, wrapped in gold ribbon. Pemberton's Garden Center (2235 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-491-2244) usually offers a nice assortment of holiday greens, loose or bundled, with spruce, pine, cedar (my aromatic favorite), and even juniper (a bad call for indoors, as it can smell a wee bit like cat pee). Bundles vary in price, but you can get plenty for $10.

Whether you choose to go wild with Austin or mild with solstice, getting into the spirit -- even in an unconventional fashion -- lets you join the communal festivity of the season, finding ways to transform the darkest month into the brightest one. And that's worth celebrating.