Feng Shui Your Christmas Tree (or Menorah)

Christmas trees are like babies and kitties. If they’re your thing, it’s easy to love them in all their many renditions. A little Feng Shui can go a long way not only with the tree but the holidays in general. This third installment on how to Feng Shui your holidays will help focus and preserve your energy so you can enjoy the festivities to the fullest. If you light a menorah rather than decorate a Christmas tree, any of these principles can apply directly to that tradition as well.

This is my fourth winter in Florida after becoming a Snowbird. Since we traveled back north to Maine for Christmas the other years, I’ll be decorating in the South for the first time. Florida and Maine are very different places – different climate, topography, feel. It’s hard for me to get my head around fake boughs on stucco next to a palm tree being Christmasy.

Being from the Pine Tree State, I would walk out my front door in Maine and start cutting balsam, spruce, holly and other berries to begin my decorating. So, I needed to think about this. How do I honor the season in a way that felt natural and festive to me yet appropriate for the locale?

Family is coming to visit so we wanted to put up a tree. Fortunately, we hit the half off sale last year and have a crisp, new artificial tree ready to be transformed. In the past we went to the local Christmas Tree Farm and picked out a regal specimen cut that very morning.

But, I remembered one of the Feng Shui Supporting Principles and we decided to discontinue our tradition of a live tree – Comfort and Safety First. Too much of a newbie to know how the local offering of live trees coped with the high seasonal temperatures, I opted to release my worries and go artificial. That makes me feel much more comfortable!

Now I was ready for the decoration. Since duplicating my typical Maine Christmas didn’t feel right, my attention shifted to another Feng Shui teaching – Circle of Influence. The energy of the place where you live impacts you the most.

The effect of Ch’i energy slowly lessens in concentric circles around us as it moves away from our bodies. Our home has the greatest effect, then our street, our neighborhood, community, state or region and beyond. That is why I wasn’t immediately resonating with the Florida Christmas vibe. Living in the frigid North my entire life, I hadn’t shifted my attention or energy fully enough into the holiday spirit of my new tropical home.

When I did adjust my perspective to my new surroundings what came to mind was beach, outdoors, sunshine and a menagerie of new birds and wildlife. Wonderfully, whales, shells and other beach vibe ornaments are readily available.

I decided to leave green and red for any future Maine Christmas theme and shifted to blue, turquoise, silver and white as my foundation. Ah, now I’m starting to feel a Florida holiday vibe!

Shopping for new ornaments was fun and inspiring. I’ve written a book on peace and Inner Feng Shui entitled,    I Hold the Power of Peace. Offerings of doves, angels, stars and other peace related symbols kept showing up while I was shopping for ornaments. This inspired me as well so peace became a part of my tree’s theme. It just felt right.

 

 

 

The final bit of Feng Shui wisdom I’ll share which impacted my tree’s design is another Feng Shui Supporting Principle – Live with What You Love. I love peace and I love the beach. In this context the two concepts just seemed to fit together perfectly for me. My dear, sweet husband was fine with this idea so here’s our very first Florida Christmas tree, our Beach Peace Tree!

 

You can easily apply these ideas to the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. Being comfortable that the flame of the menorah candles are safely away from hazards and having a menorah that you love are just two ideas. Do you have any others?

It’s been quite an pleasure preparing my home for the holidays in a new setting. During this process I’ve offered two other blogs with tips on how Feng Shui can support you during this busy time of year, Feng Shui for the Holidays and Feng Shui Your Outdoor Holiday Decorations. They suggest more ways to help keep your energy harmonized and flowing despite the added demands of the season.

My wish for you all is peace, prosperity and happiness during this most sacred of seasons.

Have fun!

Carol