The fireplace mantel is a traditional place to be a decorative focal point at holiday time... well, Santa comes under that arch, so of course! But chests, tables, sideboards, and window sills are similarly inviting surfaces for holiday greenery, candles, and other ornamentation.

Many of us don’t think to decorate our windows for the holidays, Christmas or otherwise... But especially in the early 1900s and prior, when visiting neighbors was a more integral part of the holiday season, beckoning windows were far more important. The "candle in the window" was a symbol of welcome, especially during the festive times. Anyway, children especially love to decorate windows!...
  

• Candles, then may indeed be an option - if your windowsill is deep enough to keep them away from the glass, and if you can figure on keeping them away from curtain, children, pets, etc. as well. (Electric candles? Real candles, but with glass hurricane shades?)

• A row of quart canning jars stuffed with strands of twinkle lights make a safe and cheerful replacement for the traditional candles.

• Luminarias, as you might see outdoors, would also be a nice windowsill accompaniment (see the next section).

• Does your mantel have a mirror behind it? …Place another interesting mirror (or several) in front of it - and any light you put there (candle or electric) will be wonderfully magnified, especially in a darkened-for-effect room.

• One of the most engaging advent calendars I’ve seen was strung across a window... 25 little (numbered) felt Christmas stockings clothes-pinned to 4 rows of twine. Each one contained a tiny object of delight - an animal cracker, a small toy, a Christmas tree ornament, etc.

• Cut paper snowflakes are childhood favorites - and I still love to make them! Fold a square of paper in quarters, then fold that into thirds and cut off the top "corner" straight across. Snip away bits on the edges... and end up with an unfolded gem, as simple or as intricate as you like. (Tissue paper or rice paper makes slightly translucent flakes. You can touch drops of water colors to the folded bits for batik-like designs, saturating every layer - squish the layers together a bit. Blot the opened-up flakes between paper towels until they’re just slightly damp - then press between newspapers with a heated iron.)

• You can make quite realistic-looking "stained glass" pictures by sandwiching pieces of colored cellophane between two identical cut-out forms of black construction paper. (I.e., the construction paper serves as the lead in "leaded glass" - and perhaps as the outer frame, if you choose to have one, and even detail on larger pieces of the cellophane. Keep the "lead" at least 3/8" thick where the cellophane edges need to be glued just under the edge of the paper.)

• Kids (or you) can make designs, snow scenes, etc. on the window glass with toothpaste. (I’d think the stripey kind would be particularly appropriate in some places! - twist the tube as you squish it out onto the pane to make a perfect candy cane. Wouldn’t a gingerbread-type house be fun to do?) In fact, the toothpaste makes an excellent window cleaner afterwards! - just wipe it off with a damp cloth, then buff with a dry one.

• Swags (see the section above) across the top of a window might be a wonderful focal point.

• How about a mantel quilt? - just sew a row of about four quilt blocks to drape along the mantel… and to lay some simple decorations on.

• Make a simple and unusual mantel display of a row of interesting glass jars filled with different colors of water, perhaps topped with large glass ornaments. (Keep the cat away, however!)

• A sill (or a mantel, table, dresser, etc.) might become a village! ...Cover a series of boxes with paper/colored tape/etc. so as to make each look like a different building in a little town - give each box a new roof-shaped "lid", maybe even with chimneys. Or make a smaller set of buildings out of glued-together shapes of wood.

• A fun mantel scarf can be made from red fabric sewn into a series of several Santa’s-hat shapes upside down... with white fuzzballs on the tips of the points.
    
• Fill a tall glass vase with water, a layer of cranberries afloat on top, and a votive candle in their midst.

• Small dried corncobs can be transformed into a herd of reindeer... Two pieces for the neck, and a shaped piece for the head. Use pieces of wooden skewers (or small doweling, if you used larger cobs) for the legs, cut bits of dried corn husk for the ears and tail... and twigs for the antlers.
    
• A jar or glass bowl filled with mini Christmas lights and potpourri

• My old childhood favorite - heirloom manger figures set into lovely, wavy clouds of angel hair!