Ask Design Mom: Christmas & Chanukah together

Dearest Readers, I received a wonderful Ask-Design-Mom question that I need your help with:

Hello Gabrielle! I wanted to know if there were any neat ways of incorporating Christmas and Chanukah together? My fiancé and I are an interfaith couple, getting married in a few months, and I wanted to decorate our apartment in a way where the 2 holidays compliment each other. But other than putting a menorah next to a mini Christmas tree I am kind of tapped for ideas. Thanks so much! Danielle

Thanks for the question, Danielle. I've given this question a lot of thought and I keep coming back to color scheme and materials. The easiest way to visually unify different ideas/items is to be consistent with color palette or consistent with materials, or both.

One idea is to use a color palette of silvers and blues and greens — with emphasis on the silver. Take a neutral decoration like a silver snowflake and repeat it all over the place. Then work in a display of blue and green and silver ornaments and a blue and green and silver Chanukah display. I would suggest leaving any kind of centerpiece neutral — like candles and snowflakes — and leave the religious displays on the sideboard or coffee table or bookshelf, so neither looks like the focus.

Another idea is to unify materials. Maybe go natural. Any displays or decorations could be in woods, and dried materials, and browns. A pinecone wreath. A carved menorah. An olive wood nativity. Dried pomegranetes and citrus slices in a wooden bowl for the centerpiece.

If you already have a few pieces that you love and must display, figure out any common threads between them and devise a decorating plan from there.

I love how the colors and materials in the Joseph's Coat Menorah work with the colors and materials in the Star Ornaments.