Christmas Balcony Baskets

In the Midwest the house was filled with Christmas decorations - in the window boxes, the planters, on two fireplace mantels, the kitchen bay window and just about every room. The nice thing about it was that I could gather greens and sticks from all of the trees we had in the yard. On Capitol Hill we had two tiny condo units that were decorated for the tiny space - and using greens was always a big part of it too - but we had to buy them. Now we live in northern Virginia and have a small balcony with window baskets that are tied to the back of the seats. We always turn the chairs so that the baskets face our living room in the winter months. Winter pansies were planted a few weeks ago and the spikes and ivy were left in. This week we went to American Plant to get the greens we needed to fill in the baskets for the holiday. I always save the pine cones and red berries and sticks from the previous years so they can be used both outside and inside of the house again. I always like to mix up the real stuff with the fake stuff too. Somehow it always seems to work out. Unfortunately we are not able to put lights on the patio because of condo rules. But inside there is at least one string of lights. The majority of the greens ended up filling the large vase on the dining room sideboard. The rest were placed in each of the three balcony baskets along with some festive red berries and pine cones. We have a great view of them during the day and it makes the season a bit merrier. Sometimes all you need is just a bit of whimsy.