The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 41

D2 Thursday, December 28, 2000 THE PANTAGRAPH www.pantagraph.com Versatile green exudes holidays Go the whole with children, nine yards organizing For that Caribbean or Florida look, try a sunshine-yellow, hibiscus-pink and Caribbean-blue flower design on a big 1940s-pat-tern cushioned sofa. The rattan club chairs should sport a striped fabric of Caribbean-blue and white linen, At the windows in your palm-green room, use the blue-and-white striped fabric for curtains hanging on white poles with white rings. For flooring, terra-cotta tiles would be my choice, accented with rugs of woven hemp or sisal. The coffee table can be rattan with a glass top. Decorate the room with some of those wonderful Haitian paintings and art pieces.

To light this palm-green painted room, I suggest standing lamps that resemble white palm trees, with opaque white shades. (Carleton Varney's latest book is "Kiss the Hibiscus Good Night," a Birch Lane Press book published by Carol Publishing Group.) Write to Carleton Varney in care of The Pantagraph, SOI W. Washington Blooming-ton, 11 61702-2907. By CARLETON VARNEY The fall and winter seasons in the North are reminiscent of fir trees, chestnut paneling in libraries, and kitchens aglow with mellow warmth. And the color green along with a dash of red evokes Christmas and the holiday season.

I have always loved the color green from forest-green, to mint-green, to chartreuse, to the palest of pale greens or limes. Green is a color to use with everything. The fir trees in Oregon are the greenest of the green, and so are the leaves on hibiscus plants in Puerto Rico, StCroix and Hawaii. This past weekend, I was shopping in upstate New York at Partition Antiques in Saugerties. The dealer, was displaying the most beautiful collection of 1940s rattan and bamboo pieces I have seen in a long time.

I envisioned some of them in my house in the islands, and some of them in a client's log house on Saranac Lake in New York state; and I imagined the pieces against green walls in both places dark, Adirondack-green rug of rich ruby, deep blue, cream, rose and celadon. Be certain not to cover too much of the pine a wide border of wood should show around the rug. On a comfortable three-cushion sofa, use a big bold check of plaids in green, cream and rose, and accent the sofa with some cushions of rose-adorned needlepoint. At the windows, louvered pine shutters would be the only choice. For a touch of softness at the windows, perhaps there should be a valance of soft rose, trimmed with a fringe of pine-tree green and cream.

The room should have lamps made from big brass jugs, and you might want to use some brass picture lights over the paintings on the walls, particularly over the painting that hangs above the sofa. Upholster the living room club chairs with a woven fabric of little green fir trees on a cream background. The coffee table should be at least 48 inches by 48 inches (60 inches square is a good size), and this table might be a rustic log design with a glass top. 13 Family Decorator walls In upstate New York, and palm-frond green walls for the living room in the Caribbean. Green is a cool color in the islands, and an enveloping, cozy color for walls in the Northeast or Northwest.

Here are a couple room schemes for both northern and southern climes. They use palm-frond or spruce-fir green for walls. In the Northeast or Northwest where mountains and forests are the chief elements of scenic beauty plan a living room with deep green walls. The trim and the floorboards can be pine. The wider the floorboards, the better.

On top of the floorboards, lay an Oriental Carleton Christmas trees were once a novelty By PAMELA LEWIS Pantagraph staff Finding a place for all of those new toys and games children receive at Christmas is a chal-. lenge for most families. Ellen Burton, an educator of consumer and family economics for the University of Illinois Extension in East Peoria, said old toys and games have to be purged before putting away new ones. Once children's rooms have been reorganized, children then need to keep them that way. Like adults, some children are better at picking up after themselves.

But don't expect young ones to keep their rooms or play areas neat unless you provide places to put things. First, make sure children have trash cans in their rooms. Burton said they aren't as likely to keep rooms neat if they have to walk to the kitchen or bathroom to throw something away. To help children keep clothes off the floor, hang rods and hooks within their reach. Consider installing special hooks for coats, pajamas and other frequently worn clothing.

Don't forget to put a special hook in the bathroom for robes and towels. CLUTTER From D1 irons, and hanger caddies that store hangers without tangling. Don't forget to organize holiday decorations so they take up less space. Wrap lights around pieces of cardboard and store each string in a plastic grocery bag. Keep original boxes for delicate ornaments.

Burton said stores have large holiday storage tubs with dividers for ornaments. Or use egg cartons to store fragile decorations. As with clothing, any decorations not displayed the past two years should be given away or discarded. A few can be kept for sentimental value, but Burton said the rest should go. "There are so many families that Peg Av Balbach yV hi Stackable plastic bins are great for socks, underwear, hair accessories and other items.

Put a bin or laundry basket in the closet for shoes and make sure young ones have their own hamper for dirty clothes. If children are expected to pick up toys, they need shelving, bins, toy chests and other receptacles for their bedrooms and playrooms. Sweater boxes under beds are great places for dolls, cars, rocks and other collections. Storage solutions don't have to cost money. Action figures, puzzles, doll clothes and other toys can be stored in plastic ice cream pails with lids.

Plastic margarine tubs and Ziplock bags are great for marbles, jacks, Barbie doll shoes, crayons and other small articles. Even better, think of storage before buying children's gifts. "I recently bought gifts for friends who have three small children," Burton said. "I got them art supplies and put them in plastic buckets with lids and handles and put their names on top. The paints, crayons, colored pencils, activity books and paper all fit in there." could use them.

The needy don't spend much for decorations. Just because you don't care for something anymore doesn't mean somebody else won't love it." But the job of conquering clutter doesn't end when everything is neatly put away. It needs to be managed continuously. Culp recommended spending 20 minutes a day picking up clutter and warned against using all of the new storage units and bins as dumping grounds. And before buying anything, consider where you wUl store it.

"It's an approach of taking care of things when they need to be done," Burton said. "Obviously some people can handle more clutter than others, but it's a problem when clutter negatively affects our lives." of McLean County. Inc. The idea of the Christmas tree in the 19th century is credited to Germany. The young British Queen Victoria and her German husband, Albert, also helped to popularize the custom of the decorated tree.

In Germany and England, the trees were small (only 3 feet to 4 feet) and were set on a table. The floor-to-ceiling tree is unique to America. Here, of course, our supply of trees was greater than in Europe. President Teddy Roosevelt, among our early conservationists, was so alarmed at the rate of cutjjj ting trees for Christmas, that at one time he banned the tree his home and urged others to do so as well. What would he have had to-.

say about the millions of brilliant--" ly lighted trees and miles of other 1 holiday lighting? Happily for us today, special i plantations supply millions of trees and millions of pounds of greenery for Christmas. History claims that the whole market was started in 1851 by a farmer from the Catskill Mountain region who set up his trees on a strip of New York City sidewalk which he had rented for a silver dollar! Direct all gardening questions to Peg Balbach in care of The Pantagraph, 301 Washington Bloomington, IL 61702- 2907. Please send a business-size, self-ad- dressed stamped envelope for a personal Surveys are not always believable (or are they?) in the data that are reported. How hard is it for you to believe the report out this week that in this season Americans have spent $1.2 billion on Christmas decorations, including trees and other greenery? Most of this is still on display until after the New Year. Despite the fact that costs have been rising over the years, this hu-mongous figure is a good indication the public is spending more, not less, on decorating for Christmas.

This has come about partly because of the better economy, and also because over the years thousands of Christmas tree plantations have been established in many parts of the country to supply all manner of greenery besides trees to meet the demands of Yule-tide traditions. These plantations are found in every state except Hawaii. Another report on National Public Radio described newspaper Christmas ads of 100 years ago. A few trees were available and sold for about $1. Evergreen twigs and such were selling for 25 cents.

Production and marketing certainly had a long way to go then. In 1900 only one family in five had a Christmas tree. Most children saw them only in schools. trees and boughs indoors at the winter solstice, Dec. 21, was a custom dating back many centuries.

It probably started with primitive peoples who sought to symbolically bring back green life to the land. In the Christian culture, there seems to be two origins for having a tree of some sort associated with Christmas. Both date back to medieval times. In the 1300's and 1400's, most people could not read. Religious plays were performed to tell the story of the scriptures.

Before the showing of the play, as for example in the story of Adam and Eve, the actors paraded the streets and carried the "Paradise tree" decorated with real apples the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden. An evergreen tree was used because it was the only plant with leaves during the season of the miracle plays. It also was the only prop on the stage. Its image endured long after the miracle plays were no longer performed. In another medieval custom, twigs of cherry and other flowering trees were brought indoors around the end of November and into December.

These were then placed in water and forced into bloom in time for Christmas, the symbolism being the renewal of life as represented by the blossoms and new leaves. Amish x5Vv Oure A New Leaf All through the 1800s during the peak of immigration to America, the tree had been seen here and there. It was displayed mostly by prominent or wealthy citizens, often those of German origin. German immigrants on the whole are credited with bringing the Christmas tree custom to America. In the 1800s, the Christmas tree was such a novelty that public displays of it often drew crowds.

Some charity organizations hit upon the idea of displaying the tree in order to raise money. In 1830 in New York city, for example, the public paid 6V2 cents for tickets to see a decorated tree. From 1900 to 1915, the custom spread rapidly through America, but even then it was more usual to find the tree "on display" In a community hall or church. As a common tradition, the household Christmas tree in America is just about 75 years old. It is well known, though, that in northern Europe, bringing evergreen kcnhay limes interesting tidbits from and about people you may know! Outlet Not iust a family heirloom With natural gas prices increasing this year, be sure your furnace is working at top efficiency or replace yours with a new, high efficiency furnace.

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