After the holidays have come and gone, what is to become of the live Christmas tree that once graced a room in your home? Will it just be thrown out with the rest of the garbage? Will it be turned into something useful like mulch?

You could remove some of the branches and make some fragrant potpourri with the needles. If you keep some pine or balsam fragrance oil on hand, you could always refresh the potpourri.

CHRISTMAS TREE POTPOURRI
5 pine cones (you can scent these as well)
4 cinnamon sticks
3 cups pine needles from your Christmas tree (pinch a few in half)
2 cups rose hips
1 cup orris root powder
1 cup mixture of cloves, allspice, nutmeg
1 cup orange peel

Mix all ingredients together in a container you have chosen for potpourri. Spritz with a fragrance oil of your choosing when the scent needs to be refreshed. It may be pine, balsam or a citrus fragrance, or something else entirely.

You can look online to find places to purchase potpourri ingredients, unless you already know of a local place to do so. There is always the option of buying prepackaged potpourri and add your own pine needles to it. When the scent fades, it would be time to refresh it.

If you are a little crafty, you could always break a few branches off the tree before discarding. With a few trimmings, you could have an outdoor decoration that could last for a while.

CHRISTMAS TREE SWAG
Branches from your tree
Wide velvet ribbon, your choice of color
Rope – 1 foot
Eucalyptus branches – 5 or 6, your choice of color
Outdoor wooden décor with hanger – snowman, penguin, snowflakes… (optional)

Turn the branches so that all of the needles are facing outward and the tree branch part will be facing one way. You may place them all one way or lay them across each other so that the tree branch part is in the middle.

Once you have your arrangement, tie the tree branch part with the rope to hold the decoration in place; that is why the branches need to stay together. Be sure to leave some of the rope out to tie on the door knocker, or whatever else you choose to hang it on.

Now it is time to place the eucalyptus branches in the mix. Use them to fill in where they may be a sparse place among the branches.

Wrap the rope with the velvet ribbon to hide the rope and make the decoration look more festive. The last touch would be to attach the outdoor wooden decoration to the middle of the bow you tied onto the swag.

You could always use the same materials and make a wreath out of the branches instead of making a swag decoration.