Holly & Ivy
Christmas Flora Day
The House Is Trimmed with Mistletoe and Garlands
About Holly & Ivy
Holly & Ivy is a day to embrace the beauty and fragrance of Christmas flora, transforming the home into a lush, festive haven. With the house cleaned and prepped, it’s time to hang garlands, wreaths, and mistletoe, and to place poinsettias, amaryllis, and rosemary in every corner. These plants not only brighten the home but also bring the natural world indoors, a tradition with roots in ancient customs (and one most obviously observed in the Christmas tree itself). And for those with a sweet tooth, the day’s signature activity—baking gingerbread houses—adds a candy-coated garden to the seasonal greenery. Together, these traditions make the home bloom with holiday spirit and smell like Mrs. Claus’s kitchen spice rack.
Ways to observe
(A) Low effort
Buy a fresh wreath, mistletoe, or a poinsettia and place it in a prominent spot in your home to instantly add Christmas cheer.
(B) Recommended
Spend the day decorating your home with Christmas greenery. Use garlands and wreaths to frame doorways, rosemary as fragrant decor, and potted amaryllis or poinsettias for color. Finish by baking and decorating gingerbread houses with family or friends.
(C) High effort
Host a Holly & Ivy Crafting Party. Provide supplies for guests to make their own floral centerpieces. Incorporate Christmas plants and let the crafting session fill your home with the scents of the season. End the day by decorating gingerbread houses (having their own floral themes).
Inspiration
Hang the mistletoe and bake a gingerbread house—you’re done, right? Hardly! Holly & Ivy is packed with symbolism and fun inversions. The outside world comes indoors, as if nature itself were seeking shelter in your Christmas spirit. Evergreens are draped over mantels. Ivy winds around banisters. A rosemary bush turns up in the kitchen for reasons no one quite understands. It’s as if you’ve thrown a party and the guest list is only Celtic druids, Andean shamans, and folklore-minded florists. And then things get even more wonderful. You build a tiny house inside your actual house. One made of gingerbread. The truly inspired will hang a green gummy mini-mistletoe in their candy foyer, layering the symbols until it nearly collapses under the weight of its own charm.
Hanging Christmas flora is part of an ancient tradition. Holly and ivy actually predate Christmas, revered in pre-Christian Europe for their defiance of winter. Holly was believed to repel evil; ivy, clinging and persistent, symbolized vitality. Christianity added its own meanings: holly’s sharp leaves evoking Christ’s crown of thorns, the red berries his blood. Poinsettias, native to Mexico, carry their own miracle. A humble bouquet of weeds transforms into blazing red blossoms on Christmas Eve. Joel Poinsett brought them to the U.S. in the 1820s, and they’ve been a holiday staple ever since. Add amaryllis, mistletoe, garlands, wreaths, and you’ve got a house that hums with history and symbolism. And don’t forget the gingerbread houses. Just make sure you designate at least one as edible.
Adornments
Watch
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Edward’s shrub-cutting artistry and a magical, artificial snowfall lend the film a bittersweet, botanical charm. A wonderful, if slightly sad, companion for today.
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
A classic screwball comedy centered on a food writer who pretends to be a domestic goddess living on a farm. As she fakes her way through a holiday hosting gig, the film surrounds her with elaborate wreaths, garlands, and perfectly curated greenery.
The Holly and the Ivy (1952)
A poignant British drama set on Christmas Eve in a rural vicar’s household. Amid the ivy-clad parsonage and snow-bound village, family members reveal long-kept troubles, finding reconciliation and hope.
Listen
Deck the Halls (Traditional)
With its call to “deck the halls with boughs of holly,” this song embodies the spirit of Day 39.
The Holly and the Ivy by Bing Crosby
A traditional Irish street ballad (1840s) set to an old harp air. It tells of a poor young girl selling holly and ivy in the frosty streets to earn enough for Christmas.
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Jimmy Boyd
A 1952 novelty hit, famously recorded by Jimmy Boyd, centering on a kiss under the mistletoe.
Read
The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola
A beautifully illustrated children’s book that retells the Mexican folktale of a humble girl who offers weeds at a Christmas altar, only to see them miraculously bloom into bright red poinsettias.