Orange Tree Centerpieces from Biltmore House Breakfast Room

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Breakfast Room in Biltmore House.

 These vibrant centerpieces bring a hint of traditional elegance and timeless style to your holiday table or buffet, just as they do for the Breakfast Room in Biltmore House.

Molly Hensley, Biltmore Floral Designer, gives us some of her insight:

 We chose oranges to compliment and draw attention to the two Renoir paintings—Young Algerian Girl and Child with an Orange—that hang in the room.

 To add a bit more texture and richness to the look, place the finished centerpiece on a decorative flat plate or a raised cake stand. We chose Cake Stands from Belk’s Biltmore for Your Home Collection to give our centerpieces an extra bit of height plus a hint of metallic silver detailing.

Materials needed

  • Hot glue
  • Wooden floral picks
  • Small knife
  • Artificial oranges (amount needed depends on size of centerpiece you want to create)
  • Artificial leaves, orange blossoms
  • Ribbon (optional)

  Assembling the centerpiece

 If using ribbon in your design, wrap the ribbon once around the orange and attach it with hot glue.  Do this with all oranges you are using for the centerpieces.  We used a bright citrus green ribbon for a seasonal pop of color against the oranges.

 Lay out a first layer or base of oranges in a circular/wreath-type pattern on your work surface.  Make a small hole on opposite sides of each orange, insert a wooden pick* in the hole, and use the pick to attach each orange to the next.  For extra support, fill the hole with hot glue before inserting a pick.  Work with care and protect your hands from hot glue!

 *Note:  depending on the size of your picks, you may need to cut them so all oranges rest flush against each other once picks are inserted.

 Once the base is completely dry, begin building the rest of the centerpiece in a “pyramid” fashion.  Using hot glue, affix the oranges on the top part of the base where the picked oranges attach. Continue building upward, gradually decreasing the amount of oranges you are using.  This can be accomplished by affixing the oranges slightly to the back of the layer you are attaching it to (almost in a stair step manner). 

 When the desired height is reached, put the last orange on the very top with a bow attached.  To fill in open spaces, glue an assortment of leaves or orange blossoms in the gap. 

  Make the look your own

 Consider using limes rather than oranges, or rich, red apples to enhance your holiday décor. 

Easy Ribbon Wreath for the Holidays

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This is a favorite decorating project around here!  A ribbon wreath is an easy and inexpensive project for the holidays.  It is a great way to repurpose ribbons from past celebrations, making an elegant decoration for that special spot in your home.  Coordinate colors with your Christmas theme or with your home’s interior to create a festive and stylish seasonal design.  Have fun and be creative.  This is also a great project for kids.  They just need supervision with the push pins!

 You will need:

  • A straw or Styrofoam wreath form found at floral and craft stores.  We used 14” for these instructions, but you can increase or decrease to your preference.
  • Around 12 yards each of 4 different but coordinating ribbons of varying widths and textures.
  • A chenille stem to make the hanger, found at craft stores, looks like a pipe cleaner.
  • About 50 to 75 fern pins, found at floral and craft stores, looks like a long staple.

 Instructions:

  • First wrap the entire wreath form with a wider and simpler length of ribbon.  Attach one end of the ribbon to the back of the form with two of the fern pins pushed at a slight angle through the ribbon and intoWrap ribbon around the wreath form. the form to secure.  Then tightly spiral the ribbon, overlapping slightly, and continue to wrap the form to cover, attaching the end with two more of the fern pins, securing tightly.
  •  Next, twist the chenille stem (or pipe cleaner) around the wreath to form a hanger.

 

  • Now, create several bows of various ribbons, with the loops being about the same size.  Leave the tie ends as single “tails” and cut the loose ends at an angle or with a “v” notch.  You may also create single loops and tails to fill in between bows.Attach bows to pins.

 

  • Pin the bows and loops and tails onto the covered wreath form with the fern pins, pushing the pins through the center point of the bow. Cover wreath form by inserting pins with bows.

 

  • Continue adding bows and loops and tails until all but the back surface of the wreath form is covered.  The closer the bows, the fuller and fluffier the wreath will appear, but don’t crowd them so much that the wreath looks stiff and tight. Close up of finished wreath.

 

Helpful Tip: Be sure to hang your wreath indoors unless you have used weatherproof ribbons.

Easy Appetizer for Holiday Entertaining

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Easy Appetizer for Holiday Entertaining: Nut-Crusted Brie with Cherry Chutney

The winter holidays are here, and the calendar is filled with dates for entertaining family and friends.  Spending time with your guests is your priority, so you don’t want to spend all your time in the kitchen!

Impress your guests with recipes that are easy to prepare, like our Nut-Crusted Brie with Cherry Chutney.  We recommend enjoying this delicious dish with Biltmore Estate® Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine. 

Brie Ingredients

  • 1 cup almonds, lightly crushed
  • ¼ cup walnuts, lightly crushed
  • ¼ cup pecans, lightly crushed
  • 1 (2-pound) wheel of Brie Cheese
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • Cherry Chutney
  • French baguette slices, toasted

Cherry Chutney Ingredients

  • 1 pound dried cherries
  • 2 cups orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • ½ cup fresh ginger, grated
  • 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
  • 1¼ cups sugar

Brie Method
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix almonds, walnuts, and pecans in a small bowl. Whisk the eggs and cream together in a seperate bowl. Using a pastry brush, apply egg mixture to cheese and then coat with the nuts. Place in a baking pan and bake until the cheese is softened and the nuts are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
Place the cheese on heated plates.
Serves 6.

Cherry Chutney Method
Combine the dried cherries, orange juice, and vinegar in a saucepan. Add the ginger, coriander seeds, and sugar; mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Cook to a syrupy consistency, stirring constantly.

To Serve

Cut the Brie cheese into desired portions and place on heated plates. Spoon Cherry Chutney over the cheese and around the edges of the plates. Serve with slices of toasted French baguette. Serves 6-8.

George Vanderbilt's Special Christmas Gift

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In the days around Christmas 1897, George Vanderbilt was travelling abroad preparing for a trip to India with his good friend, William B. Osgood Field. By late December, they had taken up residence in Paris and were staying at the Hotel Bristol. William wrote his mother fascinating letters detailing their days, but it is particularly interesting to see that the two travelling bachelors were also spending quite a bit a time with a certain young woman, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser. Though George was quite secretive about his intentions, Edith had clearly caught his eye. Edith, for her part, must have been receptive to his attentions as she had invited George and William, as well as some other friends, to the apartment she shared with her sister Susan to dine on Christmas day.   

On Christmas Eve, William surreptitiously snagged one of George’s socks, tucking a small calendar for his writing case into the toe. The stocking was filled with thoughtful tokens and toys that Edith and her governess had picked up on the Parisian boulevards. In went an almanac and a small book of poetry and a newly-published volume of Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz. George was presented with the overflowing stocking as a surprise at breakfast on Christmas morning.

Books were, of course, the perfect gift for George Vanderbilt. George, in fact, presented his friend William with a beautiful copy of Keats at that same festive breakfast.  But could it be that this volume of Quo Vadis was an expression of a secret Christmas wish from Edith? Set in ancient Rome, the Nobel-prize winning novel tells the love story of a young Christian woman and an aristocratic imperial officer. The underlying narrative contrasts the opulent and decadent culture of the wealthy Roman elite with the rewards found by those who seek a simpler lifestyle, embrace altruism and the spiritual power of Christian faith.  We will never know for sure… but, to me, it’s quite telling that George’s running list of “Books I Have Read” documents that he was reading this copy of Quo Vadis later that year, during his honeymoon, with his new bride Edith by his side.

68 Trees in One House? Of Course!

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Wondering what it takes to decorate Biltmore for the holidays?

It’s a study in arithmetic and herculean effort. Biltmore House and all of the buildings around the estate command a team experienced in wrangling trees, lights, candles, ornaments, poinsettias, wreaths, kissing balls, garlands, ribbons and bows – though not necessarily in that order. Read on, and just for fun, keep your calculator handy.

Trees

We use a combination of fresh cut Fraser firs and artificial trees for fire safety and protection of the collection in Biltmore House. We also use live nursery plants in the various areas of the house.

• The 2012 celebration boasts 68 Christmas trees inside Biltmore House – the most ever on record!

• The largest tree inside Biltmore House is the 35-foot-tall Fraser fir in the Banquet Hall.

• A lighted 65-foot-tall Norway spruce anchors the front lawn of Biltmore House.

• A total of 55 additional decorated Christmas trees are located across the estate, including the Winery, Inn on Biltmore Estate, Antler Hill Village and our restaurants.

Lights and candles

There are around 30,000 lights in Biltmore House, with around 125 candles. About 125,000 mini lights twinkle around the estate. Around 45,000 lights illuminate the Front Lawn tree in front of the house, and “up” lighting accents the poplar trees lining the front lawn. Three hundred luminaries line the driveway and Esplanade in front of Biltmore House.

Ornaments

We use 500 wrapped gift boxes, 500 ornaments and 500 electric lights to decorate the Banquet Hall Tree. We use around 12,000 ornaments on the other trees inside Biltmore House, and that many again around the estate, for a total of 25,000 or more.

Poinsettias and other blooming plants

We use mostly red poinsettias with some white and a few marbled and pink. In total, we place around 1,000 blooming plants throughout Biltmore House along with several hundred more in the other estate facilities.

Wreaths

Our wreaths are made of fresh white pine, Fraser fir, boxwood, holly or artificial bases decorated with dried flowers, silk flowers and other ornamentation. We place 360 fresh wreaths and sprays around the estate during the season, along with 130 artificial or silk.

Kissing Balls

Around 130 are made of white pine and Fraser fir, placed all across the estate through the season.

Garlands

Fresh garlands are made of white pine and Fraser fir. We change them weekly to keep them fresh for our guests. We use 5,000 feet during the season. Silk, dried and artificial garlands add another 1,200 feet in Biltmore House and around 1,500 feet in other areas.

Ribbons and bows

We use 500 inside Biltmore House with that many again in the ancillary areas. From narrow cording to 8-inch-wide ribbons, we decorate with velvets, metallics, satins, burlap and printed cottons.

About the photo

The Tapestry Gallery in Biltmore House boasts six Christmas trees this year!

Gingerbread House Traditions

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The holidays are filled with traditions and when the Christmas season arrives, we have many we look forward to at Biltmore.  One of our most popular is the annual tree raising.  Santa delivers Biltmore’s holiday centerpiece, a 35-foot Fraser fir, to the front doors of Biltmore House on a horse drawn carriage. 

Another tradition we look forward to is the making of our grand scale gingerbread houses, one for Biltmore House and one for our Inn.  Each year, our talented pastry chefs create gingerbread replicas, covered in sweet treats down to the smallest details.  At Biltmore House, this remarkable creation can be seen by guests in the kitchen of the home.  And at the Inn, the gingerbread treat is a highlight of the lobby decor.  This is an image of the gingerbread house at Inn on Biltmore Estate

You don’t have to be a pastry chef, though, to start your own gingerbread house tradition.  Our chefs suggest letting your creativity guide you, using a wide variety of treats to add sparkle, texture and color.  You will be surprised how graham crackers can turn into a walkway or boxed cereal can shingle a roof!  Use your favorite gingerbread recipe, or the one below from our chefs.

Gingerbread House Recipe

1/4 c brown sugar 

1/4 c molasses 

1/2 c light corn syrup 

1/2 c shortening 

1 1/2t. Ginger 

1 1/2t. Cinnamon 

3 1/2 c AP flour 

In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup and shortening.  Melt over medium heat.  Mix dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment.  Pour melted syrup into dry ingredient and mix until combined.  Roll dough between two pieces of parchment to desired thickness (1/4” is usually good!).  Cut desired shapes from the dough, carefully removing the scraps and leaving the pieces for your house on the parchment.  This will keep your shapes from being warped. Bake pieces at 350 until light golden around the edges.  

 **this dough will bake very firm and will hold up well for gingerbread houses, however is is not the best for eating.

Our Favorites Tips for Easy Holiday Decorating

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Couple decorating a Christmas treeGuests who come to Biltmore before diving into their own holiday decorating can’t help but pick up some tips and ideas during Christmas at Biltmore.  There is just too much inspiration all around! Decorating for the holiday season can be a stressful task, but we are sharing our tried and true decorating tips to make it a little easier.

Choose a theme.  A theme repeated throughout your holiday decorating scheme will bring continuity of style, color and overall look.  Themes can be as simple as a particular color or color palette, or objects that represent memories of family events. Family photos and travel souvenirs are perfect for creating ornaments.

Be choosy.  Be selective and stick to your theme.  You don’t have to use every ornament or decoration you own each year.

Avoid the “This and That” Scheme. Random placement of glittery things scattered around the room lacks the impact you can achieve if you concentrate on three to five elements (embrace the design “rule of three”).  The Christmas tree is one, a mantle might be the second, and the third might be an arrangement on top of an armoire.  Within those elements you can go over the top. 

It doesn’t have to be red and green.  Let your year-round style and colors inspire your holiday look.  Take cues from your wall and fabric colors to make your seasonal decor unique to you and your home. 

Pack away the everyday.  Don’t be afraid to send some of your everyday decorative objects on a short vacation. Replace the mirror over the mantle with a fresh evergreen wreath.  Cover your neutral sofa pillows with vivid and bright shams (or replace entirely for the season). Bring out some of your china or silver.

Bring the outside in.  Spend an afternoon outside gathering woodsy elements to create a rustic and natural look. Collect pine boughs, holly berries, pine cones, dried flowers and grasses.  Add favorite ornaments for a pop of color, or purchase an inexpensive bouquet of fresh flowers, pull it apart and add your own natural materials to create a beautiful seasonal display. 

Create the Biltmore sparkle. For a dazzling tree, tuck shiny ornaments deeply into the tree, starting at the trunk, and work outward. This creates depth, color and super-sized shine. Hang special and more decorative ornaments close to the branch tips.  Mound your favorite ornaments into bowls on your dining table, or mix them in baskets with pine cones and greenery.  Accent your wreaths and garlands with clusters of berries and shiny glass balls of different sizes.

Punch up the glow.  Group candles in varying heights throughout your decorating scheme to generate the warmest effect. 

Cue the lights!  Our team has perfected a no-fuss light-stringing technique you can use on your own tree.  First, work each light strand from the top of the tree down, and in sections, rather than round and round. This cuts down on ladder-climbing time.  Second, work the lights in toward the trunk of the tree, and then back out to the tip of the next branch, securing the strand by slipping the tree tip between the two wires of the strand.  We suggest a 6-foot tree requires 8 sets of 50 lights, a 12-foot tree needs 26 sets, and a 14-foot needs 32 sets.  

Do the squint test:  To make sure the tree is evenly lit, step back, squint your eyes to make things look blurry, and look for dark or overly bright spots.  Rearrange or add lights as needed. 

Tree trimming tips

Christmas Memory Framing Project

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Get Creative with Fun Holiday Framing Ideas

The holidays are quickly approaching, which means it’s time to deck the halls with cheer. This year, don’t overlook the walls when adding festive touches.

custom framed holiday photo with SantaAn easy way to start is by going through old holiday photos. Consider framing photos of the children with Santa, or showing off family portraits in an attractive grouping. When Christmas is over, you can keep the photos out and enjoy beautiful memories year-round!

The holidays usually mean a mailbox overflowing with Christmas cards. Pick out some of your favorites, and display them around your home in frames. It’s an easy way to create instant artwork.

Need help getting started on your framing projects? We recommend selecting frames from our Biltmore Frame Collection by Larson-Juhl.

It’s Bedtime for Tulip Bulbs

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gardener planting bulbsWe pause now from our holiday postings to bring you a mini-preview of things to come this Spring.

In our region, November is the time to plant springtime bulbs. And that’s exactly what Biltmore’s Walled Garden crew did earlier this month, spending many hours on hands and knees tucking tulip bulbs into the ground for their long winter’s naps. They’ll need the rest – the tulips, we mean – because they have a show to put on.  (Not that our hard-working crew doesn’t need the rest, of course!)

When April arrives, our annual Biltmore Blooms event (formerly known as Festival of Flowers) will already be underway. The bulbs currently in the ground will transform themselves into bright green stems and showy petals in coordinated hues of pink and dark purple; and yellow, orange and light purple.

Estate-wide, the horticulture team planted around 96,000 bulbs. They dug thousands of 6-inch deep holes and dropped between eight and six bulbs into each one to ensure three or four weeks of bloom time.

Parker Andes, Director of Horticulture, suggests if you’re planting tulip bulbs in your garden at home, wait until the soil’s temperature drops to below 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  Arrange them so their pointy sides are facing up.

 He also advises that bulbs in the ground often serve as a subterranean buffet for critters like voles. If you have problems with these tiny rodents, add a little gravel to each hole to keep them from tunneling toward your bulbs.

Extra tidbit in the name of Trivial Pursuit:  What do Biltmore gardeners talk about while planting tulip bulbs? Any number of things, says Travis Murray, Walled Garden Crew Leader. The day we took these photos, the topic was “Favorite 1980s Horror Movies.”

Our Annual Christmas Party

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For more than 120 years, Biltmore has celebrated the holidays with a party for employees and their families. Today's annual gathering begins with a warm welcome from Bill Cecil Jr., great grandson of George Vanderbilt. The party is something staff looks forward to every year, and it's a wonderful opportunity to see co-workers and their loved ones fill the halls of Biltmore House. Children sit on Santa’s lap and whisper their wishes, while staff members hand them gift chosen as carefully for them as those that Edith Vanderbilt selected for earlier generations. This beloved tradition was started by George Vanderbilt when he first opened his new home on Christmas Eve 1895.

Children sit with Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Biltmore Christmas partyMaking a list and checking it twice

In October 1898, George and Edith Vanderbilt returned to Biltmore after a June wedding in Paris and an enviably long honeymoon. Mrs. Vanderbilt quickly settled into her new home and became involved in the lives of the families living on the estate. Within weeks of her arrival, our archival correspondence documents that she had already begun planning the holiday celebrations for estate staff.

Each year, Edith gathered the names of each of the children on the estate and carefully selected items she thought they would like. A “Christmas Tree Fund” was established to purchase gifts. Anna Wheeler, the wife of estate veterinarian and a close friend of Edith Vanderbilt, sometimes helped with the holiday preparations. In an unpublished memoir, Anna fondly described these special times:

“Mrs. Vanderbilt kept a book in which the individual presents were recorded yearly; her idea was to avoid duplication, but it served another purpose in assisting [her] in the better knowledge of each family. It was just another example of her predominate kindness and her executive ability. Mrs. Vanderbilt did the buying, and labeling and wrapping of all those many gifts.”  

Edith Vanderbilt's Christmas list for Biltmore familiesGifts for all

Given the Vanderbilts’ conscious support of the community, it’s no surprise that they believed in buying local. Edith made a point of purchasing the majority of toys and gifts from area merchants, though some specialty items were also ordered from F.A.O. Schwartz, an upscale department store in New York City. For the adults, gifts tended to be practical in nature. For her first Christmas here, Edith purchased comforters, mufflers and shawls from H. Redwood & Co. in Asheville.  For the youngest members of the estate, treats of special sweets, clothing, games, and toys were standard gifts.  Leaving no detail un-attended, Mrs. Vanderbilt personally labeled and wrapped these goodies, using one of the bedrooms in Biltmore House as her staging area. Anna recalled that the room “assumed the appearance of a Santa Clause storage place.”

A family enjoys Biltmore's Christmas party

Describing a scene almost identical to what still takes place today, Mrs. Wheeler wrote, “Every family received a package which contained a gift for each member. The brilliant tree, in its magnificent setting… the faces of those surrounding it, and the beautiful and gracious hostess are never to be forgotten.”

Enjoy our seasonal celebration with your family

Make Biltmore part of your family's holiday tradition by learning more about our Christmas at Biltmore and Candlelight Christmas Evenings celebrations.

Images:
— Featured image: Children of a Biltmore employee enjoy meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus at Biltmore's annual Christmas party
— First image: Santa and Mrs. Claus listen to children's Christmas wishes
— Second image: Receipt for Edith Vanderbilt's 1898 Christmas order from F.A.O Schwartz in New York
— Third image: Floral Design Manager Cathy Barnhardt enjoys Biltmore's Christmas party with her family, ca. 2010