Deck the Halls Like Martha: Our Founder's Holiday Decorations Through the Years

Christmas Carol-Inspired Tree Trimmings

Martha's annual Christmas caroling soirée wouldn't be complete without an on-theme tree. Many of the handmade ornaments on this tannenbaum have motifs that refer to music or nature. Some of them were fashioned from paperclay modeling material and springerle cookie molds.

Warm Lighting

The summer house on Martha's Bedford, New York, property is where the farm's original owner spent the warm months. During winter, the facade is illuminated with candles and lights, giving the charming abode a warm glow.

Kid-Friendly Christmas Trees

Every Christmas, Martha transforms the tenant house—a cozy cottage on her Bedford estate—into a festive space for young houseguests, including her grandchildren, Jude and Truman. One year, she went with a woodland-inspired theme, decking out the space with bears, mushrooms, squirrels, and more forest-inspired motifs.

Faux Silver Tree

One of Martha's favorite holiday decorations is faux Christmas trees. This tabletop iteration, which stands on Martha's kitchen counter, is placed in a ruffled, galvanized metal tray that's filled with artificial snow and finished with a scene of deer figurines.

Rustic Holiday Touches

The mantel and tree at Martha's Seal Harbor, Maine home are decorated with pinecone garlands and ornaments. The beautiful hand-blown glass balls on the table near the sofa are old fishing buoys, which Martha collects. The stockings are made from ingrain carpet remnants.

Personalized Stockings

When it's time to open presents on Christmas morning, personalized stockings dot Martha's mantle. These equestrian-inspired styles were made by hammering initials into supple lambskin and backing them with extra leather so the monograms really pop. Rust ribbon trim and acorn-shaped sleigh bells add a festive finishing touch.

Outdoor Holiday Ribbon

Inspired by ribbon candy, these giant ornaments will catch everyone's eye this year. Using strips of gold and silver-toned flashing, threaded rods, and wooden beads, these ornaments are the perfect larger-than-life addition to your outdoor holiday decorations.

Get the Golden Outdoor Holiday Ribbon How To

Pinecone Wreath

At Skylands, Martha's summer respite, the porch is trimmed with a giant wreath studded with natural and gold-dusted pinecones and tied with a gold ribbon bow. A garland adorned with pink rosehips frames the scene.

Woodland Tree

This tree, which has been placed on full display in Martha's living room in years past, boasts an assortment of woodland-inspired ornaments. Standing in a faux bois basin filled with deer moss and mushroom ornaments, it's trimmed with owls, polar bears, acorns, pinecones, silver and bronze balls, and more mushrooms.

Table Trimmings

For Christmas Eve dinner at Skylands, the table is set for six with Art Deco cranberry-glass stemware and American sterling flatware. Italian 17th-century chairs with silk velvet cushions are poised at either side of the table. The Venetian-print tablecloth has Victorian-style gold thread trim.

Polish Tree

In Poland, where the Christmas season is seen as a time of renewal, ornaments are fashioned from straw to symbolize thanks for the harvest and hope for good things in the coming year. Eggs represent the promise of future prosperity.

In Martha's former home, Turkey Hill, a small spruce is placed on a table and decorated with green glass balls, eggshell ornaments in shimmering gold tones, and wheat decorations that have been given a burnished glow using metallic powders in a range of hues, from light copper to deep verdigris. The choice of ornaments is intended as a tribute to Martha's Polish heritage—the colors were chosen to accentuate the room's decorative details, from the gold-trimmed drabware plates to the gilded Federal-style mirror.

Evergreen Tree

This sparkling tannenbaum, which is fittingly displayed in the "green room" of Martha's Bedford estate, is decorated with silver-and-green ornaments and a tree topper made from tinsel stars. The base is covered with a coil of beaded garland.

Apple Tree Alight

On the grounds of her Bedford home, giant kugel balls hang from the branches of the farm's old apple tree, which is strung with white lights. A mixed-greenery wreath adorns the corn crib for an additional festive touch.

Gingerbread Houses

Every year, Martha and her team get to work building a one-of-a-kind gingerbread house. In the past, she's made everything from a replica of the Downton Abbey estate to a quaint town square. For the confection pictured here, Martha created an entire village that served as the centerpiece in her "brown room," where she regularly entertains during Christmas. Martha used small lights to illuminate every house in the village.

Jute Stockings

Of course, Martha also gives presents to her many barn animals come Christmas. As a treat for her donkeys—Rufus, Clive, and Billie—Martha made embroidered jute bags filled with apples, carrots, hay, and sugar cubes. The animals' silhouettes were cross-stitched onto the stockings for a decorative touch.

Presents on Display

In this tableau, bears act as little elves wrapping presents and tying each one off with festive ribbon. An acorn garland cascades down the banister in the background—one of many garlands and wreaths Martha sets up for the season.

Faux Outdoor Bears

As mentioned previously, the tenant house is transformed into a winter wonderland every Christmas. One year, she decorated the property with life-size bears, playing up the locale's natural surroundings. Each window was adorned with a wreath while a twinkling conifer sat centerstage.

Green and Blue Aluminum Tree

In Martha's "bird room" sits a large green and blue aluminum tree that is decorated with golden ornaments and golden tinsel swags. A traditional gold star topper completes the resplendent tannenbaum.

Perfect Symmetry

Twin Douglas firs bring striking holiday elegance to Martha's "green room" in her Bedford home. The sunken parlor is decked out with gold and green accents, from the bottle brush trees on her settee to the twinkling lights and baubles that shimmer on her matching tannenbaums.

Tabletop Tree

At Martha's annual cookie swap, you'll find no shortage of holiday décor. Here, a tabletop tree adorned with acorn-shaped ornaments and metallic baubles draws attention to a tree stump display of sugar cookies decorated like gifts.

Silver Fruit Tree

Martha's whimsical tree, hung with gleaming teal and mint-green apples and pears, is the focal point for a holiday table at her East Hampton, New York, residence. The branch is embedded in a large, heavy floral frog, placed in an antique footed bowl, surrounded with green floral foam, and covered with moss. Polystyrene fruits are wrapped in mint and teal green metallic leaf, and they are tied to the branches with silver ribbons. Delicate silver leaves, which are glued to the branches, glimmer in the candlelight.

Under Wraps

For a beautiful tabletop decoration, Martha displayed small holiday gifts beneath Victorian smoke bells.

Beeswax Candles

Delicate beeswax candles are clipped on the the sturdier branches of one of Martha's past Christmas trees. They are only lit when people are in the room.

Lighting the Way

Ivory paper bags printed with Martha's Bedford, New York farm motif and weighted with sand become luminarias, lighting the way in the snowy dusk to a holiday gathering.

Glimmering Wreath

Holiday-inspired wreaths make an appearance on Martha's various properties during the cheerful season. This one features a traditional grapevine wreath that's been painted gold and adorned with a beautiful gold bow for a monochromatic look.