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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Christmas Front Porch

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 


Everywhere we go... 
...~**~...
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be 
On your own front door. 



Or in your own front yard...  

One holly tree is near the front porch,  
and  


One is at the corner of the house and driveway. 



Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas with  
French touches in my front entry. 



With Christmas just a little more than a week away, 
it is none too soon for the fresh boxwood wreath 
from Trader Joe's ($10) on the front door.  



 Fresh greenery trimmed from the yard and 
from the bottom of the indoor Christmas tree 
dress the front porch ... 



Bois d'Arc tree fruit commonly known as horse apples in Texas 
add bright color and texture to Fraser fir branches. 
Bois d'Arc trees, native to Texas, drop the inedible fruit 
in November and provide excellent outside greenery at Christmas. 
 There are many Bois d'Arc trees in our area, 
and the fruit adds a French touch to my front porch decorations. 



Bois d'Arc means wood of the bow, and is from Louisiana French. 
You may know it as bodark, the Anglicized version of Bois d'Arc. 



The lighted iron topiary topped with a fleur-de-lis was made by my 
brother-in-law several years ago. 



Just this fall I found the 
large fleur-de-lis garden stake on half-price sale at Hobby Lobby. 



It is so easy to dress up the low round planter for Christmas 
by adding fresh cut greens, mostly from the yard, 
to the base of the fleur-de-lis topiary. 



The little green metal tree adds another touch of Christmas 
to the lighted iron topiary. 



The live conical evergreen topiary lives outside in a new urn 
found at a super winter sale at a Houston nursery. 
Keeping my fingers crossed that the evergreen lives through the winter... 



I leave the globe lights up year round because 
they add so much light to the porch at night. 
Since I live in the country with few streetlights, 
the extra light is very welcome.   



All the fresh greenery fits right in with my simple natural greenery 
theme for this Christmas and adds Christmas to the porch. 

The green moss on the brick steps and porch add to the look, 
but deceivingly make it look like we have lots of rain. 
You might say, "All I want for Christmas is rain," 
since our rainfall amount is so low this year. 
It was drizzling light rain as I took these photos, 
and a few raindrops are visible as white dots 
since the shutter speed was slow in the low light. 



Blue Doors in France were the inspiration for my front door

*****

Are you finished decorating or do you still have more to do? 
I still have more rooms to show, my tree to share, 
my Christmas dining table to share, and 
a couple of more Christmas Beautiful Ideas to share. 
Whew! 
Christmas is just around the corner. 

Lots to pack into a little more than a week... 
keep checking back for the latest Christmas inspiration. 

~~~~❦~~~~
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