Fruit Baskets - Popular Assortments for the Holiday Season

Fruit baskets are a great holiday gift, and the options are numerous. Here are 8 of the most popular choices for this Christmas season.

1. Assorted Fruit. As the most traditional type, these collections contain a variety of common fruits including apples, oranges, bananas, and grapes.

Dried Fruit

2. Holiday. These styles are beautifully decorated in Christmas colors and contain beautiful arrangements. They look nice as table centerpieces for the winter season.

3. Dried Fruit Assortments. Apricots, cranberries, and raisins are commonly included. These arrangements are often packaged in "on the go" containers as trail mixes rather than individually in baskets.

4. Fruit and Nut Baskets. Whether it is fresh or dried fruit, an assortment paired with different types of nuts makes a great combination.

5. Chocolate Covered Fruit Collections. For a gourmet treat, this is a very popular option. Cherries and apricots are two of the most common types.

6. Organic Fruit Baskets. For the health conscious person on your Christmas list, this makes a great gift.

7. Exotic Fruit Arrangements. For that person on your list who enjoys new or different things, this may be a good gift idea. It contains lesser known fresh fruits such as papayas, star fruit, kiwis, mangoes, and pineapples.

8. Citrus Baskets. Oranges, tangerines, clementines, and grapefruit make a delicious, juicy, and refreshing collection.

The internet makes it very easy to find whatever type of fruit basket gift you are looking for. There are many online stores that offer free shipping and will deliver directly to the recipient of the gift at your request.

Fruit Baskets - Popular Assortments for the Holiday Season

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Every Door Deserves A Holiday Wreath

No matter what the festival or season, a wreath on the door is a classic decoration. The fun in this ubiquitous decoration comes in choosing a wreath's materials and colors and even whether to replace the traditional round wreath with a graceful swag or loops of garlands.

While a traditional evergreen wreath is an excellent choice, many decorators overlook the potential and sheer variety available in wreaths. There are styles to suit every kind of architecture, interior decorating style and even landscape designs. Options range from a simple bare wreath made of grapevines to full green wreath of fir or pine bedecked with ribbons, bows and balls. The choice is up to the decorator but a few suggestions can assure having a personalized wreath that still fits nicely with a home's style. There are even outdoor rugs decorated with wreaths that can serve as welcome mats for the season.

Dried Fruit

A classic evergreen wreath is ideal for any home in a traditional architectural design. However, that timeless evergreen base can be decorated with any kind of embellishment, from tiny white lights to gaudy metallic balls to homespun artificial or dried fruit. Whether it is holly berries with ivy or silver tinsel, an evergreen wreath has the potential to be a stunningly personalized decoration.

Contemporary style homes can use evergreen wreaths as decorations both indoors and out, depending entirely upon the chosen embellishments. Homeowners with Contemporary or Modern design dwellings can choose to go with manmade materials, such as metallic tinsel wreaths or garlands, or even wreaths made of recycled or plastic components. Remember the silver tinsel trees with their rotating color wheels from the 1950s? That's a look that contemporary and modern homes can still carry off.

Homes in Cottage Country design have the benefit of a wide range of styles from which to choose for holiday decorating. Naturally Lodge or Rustic style homes can use the traditional evergreen wreath handsomely, while an English Cottage home would look lovely with a wreath made from dried hydrangeas adorned with a shimmering silver bow. For holiday color, pick hydrangeas while they are still green and enhance them with chartreuse glass balls. Pink hydrangeas can be picked and preserved to create one of the "pink Christmas" decorating themes that have become so popular in recent years. A pink rug just inside the door would make an ideal transition to the interior decorating theme.

Country Cottage homes in Southwestern style have a wonderful alternative in the classic chili pod decorations known as ristras. These swags of bright red piquin peppers dried and tied together, can last as long as five years if they're well maintained. Christmas wreaths made of chili pods are popular throughout the American Southwest, as are artificial lights shaped like chilis.

Innovative decorators sometimes opt for alternative or naturalistic wreaths no matter what the architectural style. Cuttings from native plants, fruit or seedpods all can be used to create unusual and striking wreaths. Wreaths of this kind often can be used throughout the fall and winter seasons, changing their adornments as the holidays come and go.

The last suggestion for using wreaths in home holiday decorating is think beyond the front door. Wreaths can be hung everywhere, from two vertically stacked on tall doors and windows to small wreaths for interior doors, doorknobs, stairways and even as Christmas tree ornaments. With such versatility, why stop at just one?

Every Door Deserves A Holiday Wreath

Design consultant Fran really enjoys writing about home decorating using wreaths at holiday time. And she says that if you want your room to make a statement without spending a fortune then all you need to is place outdoor rugs or oval rugs on your floor.

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Holiday Herbs for Fragrance & Decor

"[smells] bear unfaltering, in the tiny and almost impalpable

drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection."
Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past.

Olfactory-triggered nostalgia fills the air at Christmas time. In particular, the aroma of coriander, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and cinnamon open the floodgates to memories of Christmases past.

Decorations like pomanders add beauty to your home during the festive season. Making them is a fun project for the whole family. Children get enthusiastically involved in the hands-on creative activity.
Make a Holiday Pomander

To make a holiday pomander you will need the following:
· 4-6 firm, thin-skinned oranges (lemons and/or limes will also work)
· ½ cup (125ml) of ground cinnamon
· ¼ cup (60ml) of ground cloves
· Approximately 100 grams of whole cloves
· 1 Tbsp. (15ml) of ground allspice
· 1 Tbsp. (15ml) of ground nutmeg
· 1 Tbsp. (15ml) of orrisroot.
The cloves should completely cover the oranges if you're planning to display the pomanders in a bowl. If you want to hang them from the Christmas tree or mantelpiece, leave a half-inch vertical groove around the fruit to accommodate the ribbon. The cloves can be directly inserted into the oranges, but to avoid bruising the
fruit, first piece the skin with a skewer.

The cloves should be close, but not crowded or touching. The fruit will shrink to about 75 per cent of its original size during the curing process. Also, the skin may split if the cloves are too close. Don't leave a half-studded orange to finish the next day as rot may start to set in.

Mix the curing spices, the cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and orrisroot in a small bowl. Orrisroot is the ground, dried root of the orris iris. It's commonly used to "fix" or set the fragrance of the other ingredients in pot-pourris and perfumery and has a barely perceptible fragrance of violets. It's readily available in any craft or floral supply store.

Place half the mixture in a large bowl and lay the studded pomanders on top. Pour the rest of the spice mix over the pomanders so that they are completely covered. Add more spice mixture if necessary. Place the pomanders in a dry, dark closet and turn them daily. Depending on the fruit and its size, the curing process will take three to four weeks. When the pomanders are firm, they are cured.

The pomanders are fragrant, spirit-lifting and beautiful, they will also repel moths when hung in your closet or placed in drawers. They will last forever. When their scent wanes, just add a little essential oil of your choice.
Fun and Fragrant Garlands

Garlands are another simple holiday decoration for fragrance and fun. Take pieces of kitchen twine and suspend bunches of fresh, dried herbs and slices of dried fruit such as apples, oranges and lemons. Dried fruit slices can be purchased from your local craft store, but if you prefer to do it yourself, use a dehydrator or slice the fruit thinly, then place them on a rack in a 95 degree C (200F) oven for about six hours.

For the first two or three hours it's best to prop open the oven door just a crack with a wooden spoon to allow the moisture to escape. When drying apples, first dissolve one teaspoon of salt in a quarter cup of lemon juice. Dip the apple slices in this solution and they will retain their natural color after drying.

Suggested herbs for your garland or swag would be sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks, but you can use whatever is available. Add small bunches of holly and mistletoe for extra decoration.
Herbal Table Napkins

Herbal table napkin holders make a fragrant and appealing table decoration. Fasten a small herbal bouquet of parsley, rosemary, sage or thyme with an elastic band and tie the bouquet directly to the napkin ring with a ribbon in a bow. The choice of herbs will be determined by what's still thriving in your garden or what's available in the stores. The herbs must be fresh. Dried herbs will just make a mess on your table.

Make this Christmas especially festive and fragrant while involving your children or grandchildren in these creative projects.

Bruce Burnett is a chartered herbalist who has also won four Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold awards for travel journalism. Read more of Bruce Burnett's writing on his websites:

1. [http://www.globalramble.com/]

2. http://www.bruceburnett.ca/

3. http://www.herbalcuisine.com/

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Holiday Gift Giving: Recipes for Homemade Christmas Trail Mixes

Homemade Christmas trail mix is the perfect stocking stuffer, teacher gift, mailman gift, or family gift. Trail mix recipes vary in specific ingredients, but generally they contain cereal, nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, and at times, small candies like M&M's or Heath Bits.

It's easy to make up large batches of trail mix at one time, which means you can make plenty for everyone on your list in one day. It's much easier than baking and is a nice switch from the traditional cookies and fruitcake.

Package your homemade trail mix in tins, cellophane bags, or small paint cans for an interesting and fun presentation. Add a small card with all of the ingredients listed, just in case you're not sure about potential allergies.

Homemade Christmas Trail Mix Recipes

Christmas Tree Trail Mix

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a jellyroll pan or cookie sheet with sides. Also, grease the sides of a large bowl. Set aside.

8 cups popcorn

1 cup walnuts, toasted

1/3 cup real maple syrup

teaspoon cinnamon

teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch of baking soda

1 cup dried cranberries

Pop the popcorn according to the directions. Mix the toasted walnuts and popcorn together in the prepared bowl.

In a saucepan, combine the syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Set to medium heat and allow the mixture to come to a boil and let it cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the baking soda and blend well (the mixture should have a creamy consistency).

Let the mixture cool slightly and then pour it all over the popcorn and nuts. Make sure the popcorn and nuts are thoroughly covered.

Turn everything out onto the prepared cookie sheet and distribute evenly. Bake for 15 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit or until the mix is 'dry'. Cool for 20 minutes. Add the cranberries last.

Christmas Party Trail Mix

Yogurt covered raisins or pretzels

Peanuts, walnuts, or your favorite nut

Almonds

Chopped dates

Yellow raisins

Dried oranges, cranberries, or apricots

Corn Chex cereal

Toss all of the ingredients into a large bowl and mix. Take the entire bowl to the office Christmas party or divide it up into smaller containers to give as gifts to family and friends. Easy and delicious!

Holiday Snack Mix

Dry cereal - your choice

M&M's, Heath Bits, or your choice of small candy

Raisins

Dried fruit - apples, bananas, apricots, cranberries, etc.

Granola or oat bran

Chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or white chips

Mini marshmallows

Pretzels

Toss the ingredients together and then divide into mason jars, tins, coffee can, or any other interesting container idea that comes to you.

Packaging Your Presents

Keep an eye out all year at garage sales, dollar stores and sales at World Market to find interesting containers and canning jars to store and gift your recipes. Add a bow or ribbon and the recipe and I'm sure the recipients will appreciate such an attractive and tasty gift.

Trail mix is so easy to make at home! The colors and textures are fantastic from a presentation standpoint too. Try different methods and ingredients in your trail mix and maybe you'll come up with your very own version of homemade Christmas trail mix. Serve it at family functions, give as gifts, or munch on it while you make your homemade Christmas cards. No matter how you serve it, trail mix is the perfect gift.

Shellie Gardner is the owner of Christmas Light source, a great place to find Christmas Lights. Christmas Light Source is a one stop shopping website for all your Christmas lighting needs. From traditional to LED lights to hardware and every thing in between, they have everything for holiday lighting decor as well as tips, tricks, videos and do it yourself projects.