Excerpts from “Christmas Decorations of the Home” from Cassell’s Household Guide: Being a Complete Encyclopedia of Domestic and Social Economy Volume II, 1869 (published in London and New York.)
“The materials to be used include all kinds of evergreens, everlasting flowers, and coloured and gilt papers. It is a strange thing that, though mistletoe is used in the decoration of house, not a sprig of it is put into a church. But in house decoration no Christmas would be thought complete if there did not hang in hall or dining-room a bunch of its curiously-forked branches, with their terminal pairs of nerveless pale-green leaves, and white crystalline berries.
Holly is of course the special tree of the season. Its leaves bent into various curves, its thorny points, and its bunches of coral-red berries, make it the prince of evergreens. Let it be conspicuous throughout the decorations. It is a good plan to strip off the berries, and use them strung in bunches, as the berries get hidden when the sprigs are worked into wreathes and devices, and the berries, bent into little bunches, dotted about the festoons here and there, look very effective.
Ivy must be introduced with care. Small single leaves come in with good effect in small devices, or to relieve a background of somber yew or arbor vitae. The young shoots of the common ivy are best, or of the kind which grows up trees and old walls, which are very dark and glossy, with a network of light-coloured veins.
Laurel is a very useful green in sprays, and the single leaves may be applied with excellent effect in wreathes, or overlapping one another in borders. The variegated ancuba makes a pleasing variety in the colour.
Yews and arbor vitae are useful, especially the small sprays of them, for covering the framework of devices.
Myrtly and box also are pretty in narrow borderings, into which coloured everlasting flowers may be introduced. The black bunches of ivy berries may sometimes be used with advantage, to give points of contrast in decorations. Of course if chrysanthemums, Christmas roses, primulas, and camellias can be obtained, the general effect is heightened and the decoration becomes more elaborate and more elegant.
[directions for making wreaths]
If holly berries are scarce, a good substitute may be found in rose hips, which may have a small piece of wire passed through them as a stalk, and several twisted together. The fallen holly berries, strung on wire, made into rights, and slipped over the leaves, are very effective, also split peas, glue on here and there in the shape of small rosettes, look like golden flowers, and they may be made to resemble holly berries by pouring over them red sealing-wax melted in spirits of wine.
… Holly strung has a very good effect. It is very quickly done, and looks like a rich cord when finished, and all the banisters in a house may be draped in holly. It is made by threading a packing-needle with the required length of twine, and stringing upon it the largest and most curly looking holly leaves, taking care to pass the needle through the exact centre of each leaf.”
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 
I love this! Thank you, Anna! Anything on feather trees-they fascinate me!
Thanks Trisha. I haven’t yet come across anything on feather trees in what I’ve been reading from the 40s/50s/60s. I do like how nicely they show off ornaments. A quick look at tritary sources shows a bit of conflict about when they first came into use in Germany. It looks like the turn of the century or early 20th century for the US. By the way, while I was looking for general information, I noticed feathertrees dot com is going to stop making feather trees. They are selling out the inventory. If I come across anything else, I’ll share it.