| Want to avoid accumulating more Christmas | | | | pedestal makes a great holiday centerpiece too. This |
| decorations that will likely end up packed away in | | | | can be enhanced by adding bits of curly ribbon |
| boxes or thrown out in our landfills? Consider making | | | | throughout the display. Golden ribbon with red or green |
| decorations out of items that you have around the | | | | apples make a particularly elegant decoration. |
| house. Rather than making decorations out of plastic | | | | Nuts are a great holiday snack. Place these in a |
| or tin, turn to nature. Food can make great holiday | | | | crystal long-stemmed glass and tie a red or green |
| decor. Sure, gingerbread houses and cookies with red | | | | bow to the stem. These are great to place throughout |
| and green sprinkles are festive, but do not overlook | | | | the home on coffee tables, end tables, or on the |
| the power of natural foods, like fruits and vegetables. | | | | mantel. Roasted pumpkin seeds, also called pepitas, |
| The holidays seem to center around eating. Natural | | | | are green seeds that taste great and look fabulous |
| food not only tastes great and makes you feel good, | | | | when paired with dried cranberries. White chocolate |
| but it is full of natural beauty. Cranberries, cherries, | | | | complements this fruit-and-seed combination when |
| beets, and pomegranates are rich in red color. | | | | placed in a clear glass bowl together. |
| Asparagus, leafy greens, and Brussels sprouts come in | | | | Do not underestimate the power of cranberries as a |
| many of shades of green. The apple may be red, | | | | Christmas decoration. These little red fruits are |
| green, or golden. These items are likely in your kitchen | | | | affordable and last a long time. You can float these in |
| right now, so you can start building edible holiday | | | | a glass bowl partially filled with water, and they may |
| decorations without any planning. | | | | last as long as a week or more. Adding white flowers |
| Natural foods can be used to create grand | | | | to the floating cranberries makes a calming and |
| centerpieces. A bunch of asparagus can make a | | | | peaceful decoration. Filling a glass vase with some |
| great rustic centerpiece. When the spears are | | | | cranberries is a great idea too. If you do this, try adding |
| bunched together with a rubber band, they stand | | | | some medium-sized gold or white ornaments to the |
| upright quite easily. The bunch can be set in the middle | | | | vase as well. You will be amazed at how nice it looks. |
| of the table. A small ornament can be secured to the | | | | Of course, you can always string popcorn. Maybe you |
| rubber band that holds the spears together. From | | | | want to get a little more creative this year and string |
| there, you wrap garland around the base. This looks | | | | some cranberries with that popcorn! Although |
| particularly natural and festive with an evergreen | | | | gumdrops certainly are not a natural food, they sure |
| garland, although any type of garland can be used. The | | | | make good stringing, and nothing looks better on a |
| garland acts as a disguise to cover the base of the | | | | white Christmas tree than a string of multicolored |
| vegetables and the rubber band. Because of its rustic | | | | gumdrops! |
| nature, this centerpiece would be a great choice if your | | | | Get creative this Christmas, help save the planet, and |
| home is located in a rural area near the woods or if | | | | save some money by making your own decorations |
| your are celebrating the holidays at your cottage or | | | | with food. They are fun, inexpensive, and you can eat |
| cabin. Placing large fruits in a bowl or on a cake | | | | them! Go to your kitchen now and get started! |