Every December, we find ourselves enmeshed in the spirit of Christmas - happy and jolly. So why not reflect this festive spirit by sprucing up our home sweet home with decorations? Christmas, after all, is the right festivity to get those creative juices going.

Not to mention it's one of those activities that involves the whole family. So decorating our home for Christmas also reflects the spirit of closeness within our family.

"We decorate our home at Christmas to feel the hype of the festivity," says former badminton champion Alan Budi Kusuma. "My children just love doing the decorating, so as parents, we feel it is one of those precious moments when we get together as a family and work as a team to decorate our homes.

"So, it's about teaching my children how to cooperate as a family," adds the husband of former badminton athlete Susi Susanti.

Alan is all for being creative when it comes to Christmas decorating. Just imagine: Not only do you have a Christmas tree to play with, but you also wreaths, garlands, lights, bells, tinsels, tin balls, red berries, as well as other evergreens and itsy-bitsy ornaments that can be placed all around the house. See how creative you can be?

And this kind of creativity has no limits, as according to interior designer Iwan Sastrawiguna, 2009 is the year to embrace novelty. Starting with your Christmas tree.

"Christmas trees today come in many variations," says Iwan, who is behind most of the hip Christmas decorations in famous places across the city. So, as he points out, trees needn't be white or green.

"Today, it's become all the rage to have blue, purple or even red Christmas trees," he says.

"Those who don't like conventional Christmas trees can now choose from all these colors."

But of course, unconventional Christmas trees should also match other ornaments around the home. And once again, Iwan says it's possible to move away from the traditional Christmas colors.

"In terms of colors, we can stray from the red and gold," he says. "This year, we could dare to be different, by for example using purple," he adds.

Chosing a new dominant color for this year's celebration, Iwan goes on, doesn't necessarily mean we have to buy new ornaments. The key is to be creative, as he says, "we can simply re-paint the old ones in purple to get a new look."

Sounds pretty fun, right? And it's also even more entertaining to dream up ways of recreating the Christmas spirit that permeates countries with four seasons. As we know, the scent of pine trees has always been part of Christmas decorations in those places. People living there usually bring branches and leaves of pine trees from their gardens or neighboring parks into their homes, to create a fresh scent that evokes the Christmas spirit.

In a tropical country like Indonesia, of course, options to do this are limited. But fear not - Iwan has some great tips for you.

First, pick up artificial pine evergreens and pinecones as decorations. Second, get some potpourris with the scent of pine, and esssential oils oozing the same aroma using an oil burner. The fresh scent will thus permeate our home, despite using artificial pine evergreens.

While we're talking about decorating our homes, it's also important to think about where to place the ornaments. In which parts of our homes can we be creative?

"Personally, I think the foyer, li-ving room, hallway, staircase, family room and dining room are the areas that need to be decorated the most," Iwan reveals.

Iwan takes us through this decorating ritual from the main entrance of the home. Here, he says, we should hang a wreath already adorned with pretty Christmas ornaments. The next destination, he goes on, is the foyer.

"The foyer must be decorated because it's the first area your guests will walk through," he says.

After the foyer, Iwan says, we can continue decorating our staircase with garlands. These garlands, he says, can be hung up along the stairs' railing, with some pretty ribbons made of different kinds of cloths. The trick to create pretty shapes with ribbons, he reveals, is to put wires at the back of them so we can easily shape them.

"Last but not least, we need small colorful lights that we can place around the banister," Iwan says.

Now we're moving along to the hallway, living, family and dining room. In this case, it's not enough to just have a Christmas tree with basic decorations like wreaths and garlands.

"Personally, I like to use scented candles and red velvet tablecloths as well as curtains in common areas, so our home appears more festive," Iwan suggests.

As he points out, apart from tin balls and ornaments, we can also be creative with fruits and cookies. With cookies, for example, "we can put them inside unique, pretty jars, then display them on tables."

Anything else?

"Pick some fresh tropical flowers with exotic scents like jasmine, sedap malam or imported flowers like casablanca lily," Iwan suggests, adding that we should also consider using fresh poinsettias - beautiful red leaves that can be found in many florists around Christmas.

As Iwan suggests, Alan goes beyond decorating the Christmas tree - he places colorful ornaments around the entire house - as he believes it is important to create a festive mood.

Alan will add flower cuts, tin balls, small statues and dolls. But he doesn't use Christmas cards.

"I think, when it comes to Christmas decorations, trends have changed," Alan says. "Christmas cards used to be popular for decorative purposes, but not anymore."

He will definitely go to malls for inspiration. Although he says his family hasn't decided what theme to pick this year, the winter touch is always a must.

"So, even if we go for the green tree, we will add white sprinkles on the tree," he says. "The winter touch helps create this jolly Christmas feeling," he adds.

So, ready to spread the Christmas spirit around your home? You can start now, and after finishing the decorating, don't forget the final touch: A smile as your guests arrive. After all, as they say, the best decoration is being wreathed in smiles.

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