I hesitate to use the term holiday decor for the title of this post as for those residing in North America the holidays is a term associated with mainly Christmas festivities and Christmas though for sure is probably the biggest holiday that we decorate both the interior and exteriors of our homes it is not the only holiday that we remember or celebrate with decorations or gift giving there is of course st valentines day, st Patrick’s day,Halloween ,mothers day to name but a few. So perhaps a more appropriate title might be seasonal decor as we can group a whole bunch of minor holidays together if we choose our decor seasonally just changing out the central piece i.e the the focal point swapping for example the Happy mothers day greeting on our spring dried flower wall swag with a happy Easter greeting would not look amiss as both occur at the same time of year when spring seasonal decor is still  appropriate .In addition apart from the publically recognized celebrations there are too our own private or individual ones that we do not like to pass unnoticed such as birthdays ,anniversaries, graduations ,home comings and retirements etc .What ever the celebration seasonal decor is always found to play a role in it.
Most of us may not go to the extent of decorating the outsides of our homes with holiday decor appropriate to the event but some do, often have I seen garden decor announcing the arrival of a new baby, a wedding or anniversary in the high digits. Others of us prefer a more subtle approach with decorative floral displays table centerpieces, dried flower arrangements ,commemorative ornaments and lamps all adorned with the appropriately seasonal decor of course no one would build a table center piece celebrating a July birthday with fall leaves or holly as they are just not seasonal decor for that time of year just as a daisy does not say Christmas .

Whether we decide to celebrate or remember our personal and  public holidays with lavish displays of holiday decor or acknowledge these events with more low key holiday decor displays. Our choices  are usually at least   somewhat dependent on our backgrounds ,family traditions ,religious ,ethnic and personal sense of self all reflect which holidays we choose to remember and celebrate and in what way we do it . Whether we go to town with holiday decor both inside and out reflecting what ever the current holiday is in the offing or celebrate in our own personal more low key way there are wonderful holiday decor items to suit any taste and budget. But Sometimes we can be clueless as to what is appropriate for certain holidays take for example Thanks giving  a huge holiday in North America despite that it is celebrated on different days in Canada and America its a big deal. Originating from England where thank giving is not celebrated as a public holiday the nearest we have is harvest festival mass one Sunday around the end of September early October apart from that there is nothing remarkable about that time of year . Consequently even though we now live in Canada we do not celebrate Thanksgiving in our house with either holiday decor or a big family meal, when we first came to live in Canada we did try to adopt the practice of Canadian thanksgiving  ,but the Canadians don’t appear to make as big a deal of it as the Americans  with either their inside or outside holiday decor it pretty much seems to pass from the big in store hoopla that going back to school in September creates straight on to Halloween so unless I notice the extra big display of frozen turkeys in the supermarket Canadian thanksgiving would pass completely unremarked ,the kids would mention it of course but the elder two were born in England too and were unused to celebrating Thanksgiving the only thing that they were thankful for was the extra day off school.Hubby who has been a trucker for many years now and seldom home for the lesser holidays and having no extended family here or in GB who celebrate Canadian thanksgiving  the big family get together aspect is lost to us.

Apart from the one year when we had to cultivate it ,big time. My husband had just started work with a new company a much smaller more family run and orientated company one of their company traditions over the three week period the real Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend before and after to have three Thanksgiving get together’s to allow all drivers and their families to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with their families even it it wasn’t on the right day as some would be on the road delivering to the US where it is not a holiday on the actual Canadian Thanksgiving weekend .The middle weekend being the actual Canadian Thanksgiving weekend the boss of the company would host a large and extravagant thanksgiving day open house consisting of booze ,food and fun family activities.

The other two weekends drivers names would be pulled from a hat and their house was the venue for thanks giving bring a bottle and dish potluck open house parties that had constant streams of traffic from dawn until dusk some people would stay for hours others only fleeting visits I guess dependent on how well they knew the host family or how busy their schedule . My husband was a new driver with the company had only been there a few weeks but our name was drawn for the weekend after the real thanksgiving weekend.
I was panic stricken give me any other holiday and I wouldn’t of flinched or batted an eye but Thanksgiving all I new was it was rather like Christmas in that you ate turkey but there was no gift giving . Grateful that it was a potluck so most guests would arrive with food to be shared I would only need to provide basic party supplies plus themed Thanksgiving holiday decor to suit the occasion . But how does one decorate elegantly ,tastefully for thanksgiving making an obvious thanksgiving statement with your holiday decor without going overboard and creating either an old MacDonald farm or  barn dance feel or the appearance of kindergarten gone wild with turkey decor run a muck .

Decided to create basically arrangements of seasonal decor just as if I was decorating the school hall back in GB for the harvest festival mass but with a few more Canadian seasonal decor elements thrown in such as bales of straw , pumpkins maple leaves grapevines ,sun flowers ,candles pine cones,colorful gourds, scarecrows and a few checkered table cloths napkins and table ware in bright fall colors reds browns yellows and rust colors incorporating these seasonal decor items into large displays on the deck porch and patio’s vignettes situated so that are attractive from both inside the home through windows and doors and and also from outside when viewed from the garden . carrying on the same fall color theme indoors into small side table decorations ,mini vignettes on counters ,bathroom vanity and furniture tops displays of holiday decor in front of doorways or stairs that are off limits to your guests . Everything went well no one realized we were thanksgiving challenged as a matter of fact I got quite a few complements on my choices of and arrangements of my thanksgiving  holiday decor .

I am sure with Canada and the US having large populations of either permanent or temporary residents from other countries often they like me on that particular thanksgiving suffer the same dilemma of not knowing which  holiday or seasonal decor is appropriate and in some cases what the holiday is celebrating so for all other immigrants to North America that are a little bewildered how to participate in such holidays as Victoria day ,Columbus and Arbor day with suitable displays of holiday decor let the following selection of posts on seasonal and holiday decor be your guide.