Christmas wreaths rival Christmas trees as the two most popular Christmas decorations. Most wreaths are hung as a holiday greeting and welcome to neighbors and friends on the main entry door of the house appearing soon after the pumpkins and corn stalks of the fall harvest season have been removed. Decorations for Christmas wreaths vary from the traditional – pinecones, red berries, deer moss to unique decorations like small handmade crafts made from fabric.

Bird lovers like to decorate their Christmas wreaths with their favorite small stuffed birds surrounded with holly berries that birds love. Christmas wreaths can be made just for the birds or you can recycle your Christmas wreath after the season and provide the birds with needed food during the cold winter months.

If you take your wreath down in January or February you can transform it into a wreath just for the birds. Roll the pinecones first in peanut butter and then in birdseed. Wrap some floral wire around the base of each pinecone and attach it to the wreath. If you have purchased a Christmas wreath from a company like, Acadia Wreath Company, the pinecones already have picks on the base to attach to the wreath.

String a few popped kernels of popcorn together then roll them in peanut butter and birdseed, a treat loved by blue jays. Take a large needle and string clusters of three or four whole, raw, unsalted peanuts in the shell and tie to the wreath. Make sure you use a natural thread like raffia. You can do the same thing with bundles of fresh grapes. Slice apples, pears or oranges and hang them on the wreath. It’s best to leave the strings of peanuts, or fruit short, a couple inches long at most, so they are easy for the birds to handle.

Transforming your Christmas wreath into a wonderful source of food for your birds also provides you with the wonderful pastime of watching the birds as you sit and enjoy your morning coffee. It’s a fun activity to share with the children in your life. Teach them the value of recycling, the wonders of nature right outside the door and the joy of watching birds.

Once the birds have eaten everything on the Christmas wreath you can always put more goodies on or if it’s a balsam fir Christmas wreath, you can recycle the balsam needles. Make a fragrant draft stopper by sewing the balsam needles into a long muslin bag or make a balsam sachet.

A Christmas wreath is something you see on almost every door during the holiday season. For some people it is their only outdoor decoration and others go all out with lights and Santa Claus on the roof but still have that Christmas wreath on the door. 

Add meaning to your Christmas wreath this year by decorating it with things you love. Buy a beautiful Christmas wreath and add your own decorations to it. Look around your yard and find natural decorations. If you have an oak tree you can gather up some of the oak nuts and attach them. You can use fishing line or a glue gun to attach the decorations to the wreath. Cut off a couple branches from your burning bush and add those. 

If you are a bird lover, buy a few small stuffed birds at your local craft store to use on your wreath. Winter doves, cardinals and chickadees are favorites. If you love the ocean, add sea shells, sea urchin shells, starfish, sand dollars and other sea life like hermit crab shells. These all look beautiful displayed amongst the fresh balsam fir boughs of the Christmas wreath.

 Sports lovers can add decorations for their favorite teams. A Boston Red Sox fan can add a small Red Sox pennant or other nick knack with the team logo on it. Tennis lovers can add a tennis ball and tennis racket ornaments. Everyone in the family can have their favorite sport or team represented. A golf ornament attached for Dad, tennis ornament for Mom, soccer ball for the kids and a Red Sox ornament for everyone. 

Candy lovers can add small candy canes and hard candy. Visitors can help themselves and you can replenish the candy on the Christmas wreath as needed. 

Consider adding fruit to your wreath. Red fruits like pomegranates, crabapples, sprigs of red pepper berries and of course, holly berries, look beautiful. Eucalyptus, magnolia, holly and amaryllis also look wonderful. Eucalyptus adds a pungent aroma to the fresh, fragrant scent of the balsam fir. 

Add garland around your door and continue the decorating theme of your Christmas wreath on the garland. Put a family photo in a frame at the center of the garland above the door with your favorite holiday greeting beneath it. This adds a personal welcome from your whole family to all visitors. 

Lights can also be added to Christmas wreaths. Buy a string of battery operated lights and string them through the wreath. Use your imagination to make your Christmas wreath unique and personal this year. It’s much easier if you start out with a fresh Christmas wreath and add your own decorations to it.

Evergreen wreaths at Christmas time are a familiar sight on doors, above fireplaces, and on homes.  Wreaths have been in use for many hundreds of years, even before the birth of Christ.  Many historians believe that the first wreaths date back to the Persian Empire, when royalty and members of the upper class wore diadems, or fabric headbands adorned with jewels.  Other cultures would later become fascinated with this tradition, picking it up and adapting it for themselves.

About 800 years before the birth of Christ, Greeks began to recognize the winners of their Olympic games by crowning them with wreaths made of laurel tree branches.  Years later, when the games moved from city to city, branches from local trees were used to make these victory wreaths for the winners.  During the Roman Empire, military and political leaders wore crowns of leaves and greenery.  For example, Julius Caesar was crowned with a wreath made of fresh laurel branches and leaves.  The transition of the wreath from a head adornment to a wall decoration is believed to have occurred when athletes (or perhaps victorious military leaders) returned home, and they would hang their headbands on their walls or doors, as a trophy of their victory.

The Egyptian, Chinese, and Hebrew cultures were known to have used evergreen branches as a symbol of eternal life, because the conifer trees stayed green throughout the winter months.  After the birth of Christ, the Christmas wreath made of evergreen branches came to symbolize the triumph of life over the long winter months.

The Advent wreath also became a popular holiday tradition after the birth of Christ.  This decoration was usually placed flat on a table and was used to count down the four weeks immediately preceding Christmas.  Traditionally the wreath was constructed with four candles in a circle and one candle in the middle.  The four outside candles were purple or violet, and the center candle was white.  Four weeks before Christmas, the first violet candle would be lit.  The following week, an additional candle would be lit, and so on, until the white center candle is lit on Christmas Eve or day, signifying the arrival of Christ.  A brief prayer was said to accompany the lighting of each candle.  The reason for the final candle being located in the center is to symbolize that we should keep Christ at the center of our lives and the center of the Christmas celebration.

Based on drawings and paintings, most historians believe that the use of evergreen wreaths at Christmas time spread across Northern Europe, Spain, and Italy during the early 19th century.  The greenery was used as a symbol of life persevering through the cold winter months, and the holly berries that were often used as an adornment were a symbol of the blood of Christ.

It is also believed that Europeans also used wreaths on their doors to represent their family identity, much like a family crest.  These wreaths were made from products grown in their own gardens, such as grapevines, fresh flowers, or other produce.  The crafting of these wreaths was a family ritual that followed the same general pattern year after year.

Today, wreaths are still widely used around the world.  In the U.S., wreaths are a traditional decoration for Christmas, as well as many other holidays throughout the year.  Wreaths now adorn doors for Halloween, Valentine’s Day, the Fourth of July, and Easter.  Furthermore, wreaths are no longer limited to only evergreen branches.  Many craft stores, books, and television shows feature unique wreaths made of a variety of unusual materials and decorations for almost any occasion.