Winter Foliage as Christmas Decorations
Nothing beats nature for Christmas decorations. That’s my view. Like most people, I like to decorate in order to make the Christmas period feel special. Whilst I like all things natural, I don’t want to kill a big tree in order to decorate it for a few weeks then throw it out. But then I am not that keen on artificial or plastic decorations. My answer is autumn foliage.
Isn’t it considerate for nature to deliver these decorations to us so conveniently at the right time of year? If you live in a relatively rural area, I am sure a walk in the woods will provide you with a lot of the materials. I like in a City so not much here.
When Christmas is over I will adapt the foliage adding it to some other potpourri and changing the fragrance with essential oils in a carrier oil to create natural fragrance oils.
Take a look at some of the materials I have already collected in the photo. In that pile I have the following :
Materials
Grapefruit , orange and apple slices , Chillies , kent cobnuts , cinnamon sticks , Cardamom pods , whole lemons and limes or oranges, Western Red cedar air dried leaves, dried Aronia (chokeberry, rosehips, rowan berry, elderberry, barberry, cherry, juniper berries, black spruce cones, pine cones, natural acorns, dried pod.
So what am I going to do with it all? You can see some of the ideas I am playing with, in the photos. We’ll see what I end up with.
As much as possible I keep the material as natural as possible, although I know some people spray with glitter or fake snow. I will let you see some pictures of the final products. Some will be used to make up Pot Pourri Christmas gifts for friends and family.
As I said, I don’t buy a huge real Christmas tree. If you look carefully at the photo, you will see a little fir tree in a pot. That, for me, will pass as a Christmas Tree. Since I love the pine smell, I will use an essential oil blend of Balsam Fir, Cedarwood and Pine to fill the room with that evergreen aroma.
Do you use natural foliage for your decorations? If so let me know what you do and how you use them.
