Have Yourself A Natural Little Christmas

Sometimes taking a stroll into the holiday-decorating aisles of your local store can feel more like falling through Alice’s rabbit hole. With everything from animatronic snowmen to psychedelic-lighted tree toppers, it can be tempting to go Mad Hatter and get carried away. But there’s a reason why no one sings “Deck the halls with plastic metallic tinsel.” This holiday season, why not let the original interior designer, Mother Nature, have command over your home?

Mar Jennings, a Westport, Conn.-based lifestyle expert, author and TV personality, likes to incorporate a number of natural elements into his holiday decorating.

While he says those boughs of holly and evergreen branches are great places to start, there are many other, more unexpected ways to go au natural.

“I love to take a lemon and slice it in half to make a little mini lemon bouquet,” Jennings says. “There’s nothing better in the winter than to get a burst of citrus color.”

He incorporates more lemons, along with limes, by hollowing each fruit out to make just enough space for a small votive. Jennings calls them “lemon lights” and “lime lights” and says they “bring texture and color that are great for parties.”

At the table, Jennings suggests creating place cards using a metallic pen to write names on magnolia leaves, as well as using non-blooming fig tree leaves as placemats.

“I also like to take cranberries, barley or coffee beans and put them in glasses and put a tea light or small candle in them,” he says. “It creates different levels of illumination using things from my pantry.

“When I do table arrangements, I use one vase and put another inside and line the wall of the outer vase with halved Brussels sprouts. That’s another way of getting something organic on the table.”

When it comes to the tree, however, Jennings says you may want to consider the artificial route.

“One thing more and more is that artificial trees are becoming so real,” he says. “Using an artificial tree is not a bad idea, especially when you can’t tell it’s artificial. It’s a great choice and with all the live trees we cut down each year, it helps the environment.”

He suggests creating a more natural look for the tree by taking your least favorite ornaments, or ones that are slightly damaged, and coating them with sand or moss using adhesive spray.

“Taking an old ornament that you normally wouldn’t put on, you can completely redo the surface and make it brand new,” he says. “It creates a more organic look than you would expect on a tree.” This can also be a fun activity for the whole family, he says.

“Craft stores have wonderful things to get kids involved and make ornaments that last,” he says. “I try to get kids involved so they appreciate where they were that year they made the ornament, and to kind of keep in mind the traditions and history of the holiday by remembering the past.”