By Leslie Linsley

Author of Christmas on Nantucket (Globe Pequot)

November 2025

The island’s community spirit is most evident during the holiday season. Nantucket looks like an old-fashioned Christmas card, devoid of the commercialism seen on the mainland.

In this quiet season,  Nantucket homes are beehives of creative activity. Entertaining is part of island life, and the community becomes extremely social during the holidays.

Traditionally influenced by the Quakers, who were part of the island’s early inhabitants, Islanders hang a simple wreath or pine branches on their front doors. A festive mood is easy to create with a few branches of greens tied with a bow, or a wreath encircled with scallop or mussel shells. A wreath created with dried hydrangea blossoms is popular and easy to make.

I start decorating for Christmas as soon as the trees arrive in front of Housewares. Their scent is positively intoxicating.  My book, “Christmas On Nantucket” (Globe-Pequot) features the homes of many creative islanders, each with a unique flair for entertaining and decorating their island homes. Influenced by the natural beauty of the island, the following ideas will help make your home holiday-ready in true island style. Everything you need is available in Housewares where the shelves are stocked with trimmings that include island-themed ornaments and our popular scallop tree lights ( be advised: they go super fast!!)  as well as ‘top of the line’ cookware, and everything needed for hosting in the casually elegant Nantucket style, admired throughout the country. 

Quick, Easy & Elegant Decorating Ideas

1. I love the simplicity of half a dozen miniature trees covered with lots of clear lights. You might add small red balls on one, another, gold and silver, and one decked with costume jewelry from a Christmas bazaar. Line them up as a table centerpiece. 

2. Cover mantels, tops of bookcases, a china cabinet, with boughs of greens. Add a string of lights or battery operated candles for mood lighting. 

3. Fill a lightship or scallop basket with white and red Poinsettia plants.

4. Fill a wooden bowl with pinecones. Intersperse with branches of berries from a walk on a woodsy trail. 

5. Nostalgia is trending with interior designers. Set your table with things you cherish. Make each place setting different. 

6.Group white candles on a silver tray to reflect the glow. Surround with silver balls.

7. Got A Minute? Fill a glass hurricane lamp or vase with a strand of lights right out of the box. Place on a table in front of a mirror in your entryway. 

8. Fill a Nantucket lightship basket with tissue. Top with greens. Then arrange  apples, pears, Pomegranates and pinecones on top. Tie a red bow to the handle and insert a cinnamon stick under the bow.

9. For my book, island designer George Davis used Magic Markers and 1-inch squares of paper to create signal flags that spelled “Merry Christmas.” He strung them across the mast of a ship model on a sideboard. 

10. Create an island-vibe wreath with cleaned scallop shells and a hot glue gun to attach. Add a burlap bow. Hang off to the side of your door on the gray shingles.

11. For a holiday buffet, cover the table with leafy greens like spinach and kale and place the plates on top. Sprinkle with cranberries. Add red votives at random. 

12. For family get-togethers or reminders of families not here, arrange framed family photos on tabletops. Intersperse with greens. Or set a baby picture at each person’s place to provoke “remember when” conversation.

13. “Don’t skimp on tulips!” is the credo of an island friend whose holiday parties are memortable. She lines her mantel with a lavish bed of greens and lays lots of red tulips on top, spilling over the edge. “It’s so joyously decadent”, she says happily. 

14. Debbie Lilly gifted me a bag of paperwhite bulbs that I put in different containers. You only need stones, (I used sea glass) and water and these delicate flowers will blossom by Christmas and beyond.  Zero maintainance. 

15. The front window of Housewares is filled with glasses for all occasions. Take stock so you’re prepared. Place a few cranberries in the bottom of champagne flutes.

16. Peggy Kaufman, the founder of the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum fills her collection of baskets with Poinsetta plants and groups them together on a table.

17.Partially fill a glass vase with cranberries and another with dried green peas. Add water and fill with red and white tulips.

18. For the kids: Create a skating scene on a mirror. Arrange dollhouse figures on the “mirror pond.” Surround with fluffy quilt batting for snow and dollhouse size trees. Spray paint branches white and arrange in the “snow.”

19. When I was craft editor at Family Circle Magazine, for the holiday issue we  decorated small trees with sewing elements. Tie red and green buttons, and green and red spools of thread to the branches, Wrap the tree with a red measuring tape “garland”, Use pinking shears and cut scraps of Christmas fabric into squares. 

20. I’ll be signing my book at Mitchell’s Book Corner from 11-12 on Saturday of Stroll weekend. Please stop by to say hello. Happy Holidays To All!