You probably look at your TV stand for a few hours every evening, so if there’s no room for a tree, it’s a good place to put Christmas instead. These ideas are sized for a typical 50 to 65-inch TV setup.
A few rules for the whole stand: keep anything tall to the sides so it never blocks the screen, group things in odd numbers, and leave some empty space.
Around the screen
Garland around the TV. A 6-foot pre-lit garland (on Amazon) resting on top of the TV (or on hooks on the wall just above) with a foot or two hanging down each side. Never tape it to the screen’s edge, and keep it off any vents on top. A slim, flexible garland handles the corners better than a stiff one. If it’s pre-lit, it gives the black screen a soft glow when the TV is off.
Lights behind it. A warm-white strand (on Amazon) along the back edge of the stand, behind the TV, so the wall glows around the screen. It’s the same idea as bias lighting. Copper wire lights almost disappear during the day. A battery strand with a timer avoids another cord to the outlet.
On the stand
A cluster of bottle-brush trees on one side. Five to seven trees (on Amazon) from 4 to 12 inches tall, grouped tightly in about a foot of space, tallest at the back. Mostly green, with one or two white. Keep them to one side; a row of trees across the whole stand looks like a shop window.
Stockings from the front edge. Small removable hooks (on Amazon) just under the lip of the stand hold two or three stockings. In photos they look exactly like stockings on a mantel. Keep them light and toward one end.
Books as a stand. Stack two or three coffee table books on one side and put a single thing on top: a small lantern, a ceramic house, one good ornament. In January the books go back on the shelf.
Three flameless candles. Different heights, on the opposite side from the trees to balance it. Real candles and electronics don’t mix. Set the timer so they’re on when you sit down after dinner.
A tray of pinecones. A 12 to 16-inch tray (on Amazon) with pinecones, one LED pillar and a couple of sprigs of faux eucalyptus. Five minutes, for when people are coming over and the stand looks bare.
A small village. Three to five ceramic houses at one end with fairy lights between them and a little cotton snow underneath. Put them on a tray or runner, because the snow sheds.
Above and below
Swap the art above the TV. Put holiday prints in the frames that are already there. The wall above the TV is the biggest surface in the whole arrangement, so this does more than anything else here for the money.
A lidded basket (on Amazon) on the lower shelf. Somewhere around 16 inches wide, to hide the remotes, controllers and chargers. A sprig of pine under the lid in December. In January it’s just the remote basket again.