Mid-winter MAGIC

July 2025

Your Home and Garden

Celebrate the chilly season and spread the Yuletide good cheer with a delicious feast for friends and family

The only thing better than celebrating Christmas each year is celebrating it twice a year. Let’s face it, the festive season in December requires a lot of effort, from decorating the entire house, and the Christmas tree, to buying gifts and making traditional food that is typically too hot for our summer weather. There’s also the small matter of organising the summer holidays hot on its heels. That’s why we're down for the simple joy of a mid-winter Christmas, which can be stripped back to a friends and family get-together over a leisurely roast meal in the appropriate season, while the weather outside is frightful. Apart from the food, the only other exertion is dressing the table and finding the perfect mulled wine recipe (flick forward a few pages). Enjoy all the best bits of Christmas and skip that sinking feeling that comes with knowing all those Christmas tree decorations have to be packed away.

Tablescaping 101

Embrace that northern hemisphere Christmas vibe and tap into winter's bounty of fir sprigs, pine cones and even some holly by foraging in your garden or the neighbourhood. By all means, go all out and make a wreath from pine branches, or keep it simple by adding a pine spray to trays or vases on the table. Tie a pine or holly sprig onto each person's napkin with twine. Use a natural-coloured linen tablecloth or runner on the table, and build on that. Thread seed lights along the centre of the table and put votive candles into golden glasses. You could even keep it as simple as putting white taper candles into small bottles. If that still sounds like too much effort, what about putting a mini silver brush tree onto every place setting.