Christmas Decorating - Inspired By Nature

By Deborah Goulekas

Nature's holiday signature . . . fragrant pine or fur tree branches displayed in a beautiful vase. Add twigs with red berries, pine cones, hints of gold, red ribbons and you've created a festive Christmas atmosphere for family and guests. Duplicate these arrangements throughout your home for the holidays, adding ornaments, scented candles and various accessories.

The entire family should participate in the decorating process. Long walks in the forest several days before Christmas will generate nature-inspired decorating ideas for the fire place mantle and dining room table. Collect an assortment of twigs, nuts, pine cones and interesting-looking pine branches for your displays. Consider spray-painting dried twigs with an antique gold finish.
The possibilities for nature-inspired decorating are endless and involvement of family in this activity breeds purpose and togetherness. . . the essence of Christmas spirit. The holidays are far more meaningful with participation.

It is recommended the bag containing collected forest materials be lightly sprayed with insect repellent and left to sit for half an hour before the creation process. You may not need to buy a base for your decoration - old pottery can be spray-painted to compliment colors in the arrangement. When using materials, remember not to build your dining room display too high or views across the table will become obstructed. Vibrancy is what draws attention to decoration and oranges and lemons are a nice compliment to greenery. Contrast of color creates an exceptional-looking table . . . white, red or green table cloths can create this effect.

Nature-inspired Christmas decorating has been around for centuries and much of our decorations today are imitation versions of the real thing. Homes touched by nature are ones where the true essence of Christmas spirit lives on.

Greetings from Southwest Florida (Naples)! I'm single, in my fifties and have been a resident of Naples for the past decade. Prior to '98 I was living on the Connecticut shoreline and employed as a technical writer in the insurance industry.

I am a free lance web content producer with a focus on human interest articles (boomer dating, jealousy, decorating and gift ideas, travel and senior care). I have created and sold poetry to greeting card companies.

To contact me: greenlandroad@hotmail.com

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