by Jane

(Well, it was the fifth day of Christmas when I started this post . . .)

These wreaths and other door decorations have become such a fixture in CW that people come from all over the country, some every year, to see them, and the style has become known (at least according to CW) as "Colonial Williamsburg door decorations" (catchy name, that). And I have to say, I find them totally charming.

(Side note: I learned from Agatha Christie that the collect for the Sunday before Advent begins, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people," and was known among cooks as "stir up Sunday," the day to stir up the plum pudding and let it marinate in brandy until Christmas Day.)


Even during the 12 days of Christmas, colonists likely wouldn't have any decorations on their doors; more likely, any decorations would have been centerpieces on the dining table. In fact, I've heard tell that one historical interpreter, charged with making door decor, placed forks and spoons around his creation as a subtle way of insisting on historical integrity.

And as for the fruit and vegetables that are the hallmark of Colonial Williamsburg style, "no one in the eighteenth century would have been caught dead with real fruit tacked to his front door. Anyone hanging fresh fruit outdoors in the middle of winter to rot or be devoured by squirrels would have been thought, at best, highly eccentric by his neighbors"—so write M. M. Theobald and L. H. Oliver in "Deck the Doors," a short article well worth reading. And apparently the squirrels do indeed devour the fruit in the wreaths; one CW staffer told us that the fruits and vegetables are replaced daily! 

Some of the decorations reflect the nature of the shop they adorn. These two with oyster shells are from a tavern and a restaurant.


This wreath hangs on the door of a shop that sells, among other things, toys.


Look closely at this swag over the dressmaker's door, and you'll see that her fruit and vegetables are sewn of fabric.