Color Me Christmas

If we could sum up how we feel about Christmas in the simplest of ways, we would present to you a plate of warm, freshly baked ginger bread cookies, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and a tall glass of chilled milk, wrapped with a ribbon laced in colors red and green. Holidays to fall in December are in themselves gifts well-anticipated, thoughtful and joyous occasions to celebrate in reflection of the year to pass. But in all of this making merry, have you the thought to wonder why we chose red and green? (Photo by Elena Elisseeva.)

Many suspect that the colors chose us, that nature’s gift to us during this season came in the form of mistletoe, holly, and poinsettia. Overtime, to climb the walls of every house on every block, we would see just a little bit more of ruby red and pine green. Others believe that it began with an apple, or rather, the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Back in the 1300s, when once the 24^th of December was meant to celebrate Adam and Eve through theatrical storytelling (Paradise Play), the scene was set with winter fir trees and only the reddest of red apples were fastened to each branch. And this, friends, might also be how the Christmas tree came to be but the point here is: with complimentary colors red and green used on this day, it became customary to use it everywhere else.

Red is a warm color, which in contrast to cool green, helps to create that balance and unity that really ties up December. Don’t you think?

Happy holidays!