I’m not sure how or why it came to be, but this issue indexes highly on paper chain garland (just see pgs. 7, 9, and 58, not to mention the cover). Handmade garland also happens to be how my family counts down the season, and given this year’s especially tight window between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we’re all starting with fewer links on the chain.
When I find myself feeling overwhelmed by the frenzy, I take comfort in Alyson Morgan’s refreshingly homespun approach to the holidays (pg. 50). Her family’s Wisconsin farmhouse feels happily removed from the hubbub, and that has as much to do with candlelit dinners and handmade ornaments as it does the snowy remote setting. Similarly, Landon McAfee’s 800-square-foot Tennessee cottage, which bursts at the beams with color…
