This year’s trends not your typical Christmas decor

Tired of the traditional red and green of Christmas? Consider peacock feathers and chartreuse.

Holiday decorating trends have come and gone and come again over the years — bubble lights; colorful strings of lights with opaque bulbs bigger than some lamp bulbs; retro silver trees; and the turning color wheel to make your Christmas tree appear blue, then red, then yellow and even green.

Decorators say tree ornaments and other holiday decorations run the gamut this year.

“Anything — mild to wild, whatever the person’s taste is,” said Randy Mansfield, a decorator with Inside Accents.

The Dothan, Ala., store quickly sold out of stuffed peacocks and what it has left of peacock feathers and wreaths continue to sell, Mansfield said. The idea is to stick the peacock feathers between tree branches or to hang the small wreaths from a branch.

And the lime-green color chartreuse is everywhere.

Lelah Womble, a decorator for Loftin’s, expects the color to become a traditional Christmas color. It’s a good choice for a Christmas tree because it stands out better than darker greens.

“It just shows up more,” she said. “It’s more playful.”

Copper and brown are popular colors this year, according to Womble, and Mansfield said teal and chocolate-colored decorations are selling along with the traditional reds and golds. Fuchsia and black also stand out. Glittered pine garlands and sequined parrots adorn some of the trees on display at Inside Accents, adding a whimsical style to Christmas trees, Mansfield said.

Womble said customers also want more trees in different rooms of their homes — one for the living area, one for the man of the house, one for the kids and even one for the dog. Loftin’s displays several themed trees. There’s the hunting and fishing Christmas tree, the cowboy tree, a Coca-Cola tree and a tree covered in dog ornaments.

“It used to be one tree,” she said. “It’s very surprising.”

And customers are putting their trees up earlier this year, some even before Thanksgiving. With new instant fluff trees that come right of the box looking like they’ve been out all year, Womble said artificial trees have become more manageable.

“Anything goes with Christmas now,” Womble said. ” ... I don’t think there’s any right or wrong when it comes to Christmas. It’s what makes the person happy.”

By Peggy Ussery