Natural table decorations
An inevitable place to start is with the traditional table decorations made of pine or cedar branches adorned with pine cones of different shapes and sizes. All this material can easily be found in the woods at this time of year, or else cypress or Arizona hedge cuttings work well as a base and give the house a pleasant scent.

To add a little colour and originality, you can add small branches of cotoneaster or piracanta with red and orange berries found in the garden; or rosehip picked from wild roses and the fruits of blackthorns, junipers or cherry trees that that can be found easily out in the country. Always pick these plants with great care, choosing the branches and fruit that has fallen on the ground, cutting as little as possible and respecting the species of high ecological value, such the junipers and holly trees.

Pomegranates and red apples are highly decorative elements, above all when combined with dry unshelled fruits, such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts (with or without burr), and the acorns of oaks or holm oaks. The branches of silver green plants - such as the feijoa, eleagnus or teucrium species - make a perfect filling for this type of decoration.

Christmas tree
Golden or silver sprays are very useful for making Christmas decorations, adding that festive touch. You can see what effect they have by spraying something as simple as a pine cone, that is instantly converted into an original Christmas tree decoration; or to give the drying leaves of a hortensia some festive highlights.

Something else you can do to decorate the tree is to fill a florist's foam ball with small leaves that, placed one on top of the other, generally work better than larger ones, depending on the size of the ball. The ideal leaves to use are those of the eucaliptus gunii species that are the most common green filling used to decorate bunches of flowers; small bunches of boxwood leaves and the red leaves of the virgin grapevine or maple trees, collected and dried in the Autumn.

�Finally, a great idea is to make the traditional manger scene with a good layer of turf from the garden as a base, sprinkle on some lawn seeds or birdseed and cover it with a fine layer of fertilised soil. If watered regularly and kept at a constant temperature, it will germinate within a couple of weeks. This alternative to moss is more fun and ecological although you might have to cut it at some point.
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