It’s that time of the year, folks! If you haven’t already, you will soon be decking the halls of your home with all of the colors of Christmas. While red and green are the traditional colors of Christmas there are many other colors that can be incorporated into your Christmas palette. We’ll explore some of those in a sec, but first, a condensed backstory on why red and green are the chosen colors of Christmas, and what brought that complementary duo into the now.
Red and Green
Red and green were first linked to the winter solstice by the ancient Celtic people. They believed that holly plants brought beauty and good fortune in the middle of winter. They would decorate their homes with the holly plants to ensure a prosperous new year. Over time, decking the halls with red and green became a tradition, passed down all over the world.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola also played a big part in bringing red and green into our current Christmas décor as well. Red and green weren’t the favored colors of Christmas during the Victorian times. There were more red and blue, blue and white, and blue and green color combos going on. In 1931, Coca-Cola hired an artist to depict Santa Claus. Santa became this big bellied, super jolly, red-cheeked fella who wore white trimmed red robes. Coca-Cola used this model for their Christmas campaign. This ad was viewed all over the United States and from that point on we start to see red and green take the center stage in our festive trimmings.
Everyone has a favorite combination of Christmas colors they use year to year. I am a sucker for vivid red, varied shades of green, white, and gold for my Christmas décor. I am a white or red lights girl too. The blinky, intermittent, multi-color lights give me anxiety, ya’ll. I’m not a big fan of blue as a Christmas color either. I think it’s a spectacular winter color, but I just can’t get on board with blue bulbs and ornaments.
On the other hand, I love lots of color too and have friends who use all of the colors in their Christmas décor and it looks amazing. No matter what colors you use or prefer for the holidays, it’s all about the tradition, joy, and celebration that goes along with those colors. In my mind, there’s no better way to honor the colors of Christmas than to create a 12 Days of Christmas Color Palette. I hope you enjoy this palette and have an exquisitely colorful Christmas!!
