Christmas Table Centerpieces:
Sleek, Simple Xmas Table Decorations

christmas table centerpieces: orange pyramid

Christmas table centerpieces don't need to be elaborate or expensive. Try these simple country Christmas decorations for your Christmas dinner table setting!

Christmas table centerpieces 1:
Orange Pyramids

Orange pyramids are great for understated Xmas table decorations. They became popular as a luxury Christmas item in 18th-century England (I took the photo in a historic English country house.)
For a low-key, elegant centerpiece, surround the pyramid with real citrus leaves.
If those are unavailable, substitute with camellia, azalea, laurel, holly, or any other evergreen foliage within reach. (And if all else fails, you know, just cut off a strand of trailing ivy at the fence round the corner.)

When I was a little girl growing up in Germany, winter was the only time oranges were available from the Mediterranean. To us, oranges, clementines and tangerines were 'Christmas' fruits. Whenever we peeled an orange, we would roll the orange peel up between our fingers and squeeze it hard next to a candle flame.

The aromatic oils from the peel would spray into the flame, make it splutter and spread the yummy fragrance around the room.

Christmas Table Centerpieces 2:
Pyramid Variations

Don't limit yourself to orange pyramids... go green, red, silver, gold! Here are some Xmas table decorations I found in the Italian Alps:

hot-glued apple pyramid with winter berries

I'm sure that to achieve this height, you would have to hot-glue the apples around a tall, sturdy cone to keep the whole thing from falling apart or toppling over.

If you don't want to go to such lengths/heights with your Christmas table centerpieces, you could easily produce less ambitious, equally gorgeous Xmas table decorations by creating a lower, wider 'pyramid' of edible Christmas decorations. How about piling up a cone of fragrant Christmas rum balls, for example? (They could double as dessert :-)

A conical or pyramid shape is great for Christmas dinner table centerpieces because it can be made to look like a stylized Xmas tree. Use the following ideas to create your own, unique Christmas table centerpieces:

Instead of oranges, make smaller pyramids out of clementines or tangerines (not just for Xmas table decorations - display a gleaming fruit pyramid on your windowsill or on a hallway table!)
For a green-red combination, use squeaky green apples or key limes with holly berries or rosehips.
If you're making a pyramid of red-cheeked apples, see if you can fit a few gilded walnuts into the gaps, for added sparkle.
An obvious alternative: stack & glue christmas balls around a cone made of solid card (they're too light to remain stacked otherwise). Vary color, texture and size.
Also, try Val's wonderful silver walnut tabletop tree. It looks awesome and is very easy to make.
If you're pyramiding-but-not-gluing real citrus fruits: remember to squeeze some peel into a flame every now and then ;-)

Edible Christmas Decorations 3:
Additional Options For Xmas Table Decorations

Xmas Table
Decorations

My frosted-fruit Christmas table decoration idea was recently featured in a book, The Ultimate Christmas, by Jeanne Bice (of Quacker Factory fame).

Frosted fruit looks very 'Christmassy', and the decorating options are almost limitless:

For rustic, primitive Xmas table decorations, place the fruit on large (frosted!) leaves, or directly on the table.

If you're doing chic Christmas table centerpieces, present your frosted fruit in an elegant footed bowl for a 'heightened' effect.

More Xmas Table
Decorations

The article about Christmas lights & decorations has a few Xmas decoration ideas that you could use for your Christmas dinner table setting as well. (For example, create a central feature down the length of the Christmas table using the apple/nuts combo in sparkling glass containers.)

Also, check out the page on Christmas candles for additional Xmas table decorations featuring live candles.

More to come soon ...