The thread-wrapped balls make wonderful bases for more elaborate ornaments that even young children can make if they have careful adult supervision. At a craft store, buy long pins (with round ends in bright or pearly colors, not the craft pins with T-shaped ends). If you’re working with young children, be sure that they don’t hurt themselves on the pins. You will know whether your own children can heed a warning, or need more hands-on supervision. Use the pins to attatch pony beads or other beads you’ve collected, or take apart a bead chain for a supply of decorations. You can also cut out the rosettes on paper doilies (gold or white or silver; even red if you remember to stock up around Valentine’s Day) to affix to the ornaments.Narrow strips of ribbon or lace are also appropriate, and you’ll find other things that look right to use, too, if you browse your sewing room or the craft store shelves. Don’t forget the craft glue!

You need to allow at least an hour for a “decoration decorating” project, and you should have enough materials on hand for each person to make at least two ornaments. Having some very narrow ribbon, or some slender cord, or even some lengths of yarn on hand for hanging the ornaments is a good idea, too. The only trouble is that most people will want to take their handmade ornaments home instead of leaving them on your tree!

Decorations can be made by hand from natural materials, too: Pine cones with glue lined on their edges and sprinkled with glitter are very nice, for instance. You can wire all sorts of dried materials to wreath forms; if you don’t use all the cinnamon sticks in the festive drink, they’re lovely on a wreath! You can even make the wreaths yourself if you’re thinking far enough ahead and shape Summer’s pruning leftovers.

We have a sumac that puts out suckers from its trunk, and most years I wait until there are five or six, and then make a wreath that’s easy to shape while the clippings are green, and dry by Lammas or Mabon. If there’s more humidity where you live, it could take them longer to dry, but if you don’t plan on using them till the following Winter, they’ll be ready.

Decorations made from natural objects can look nice on your altar, too, though in this context, for most of us, size does matter. The altar table I use outside is 18 inches in diameter, made from one of those three-legged decorator tables you can get at craft stores and bed and bath supply shops, and it’s really too small to put much more than the usual gear on it.

But the altar we use indoors is bigger, and has a second shelf, too, where we put the bits and pieces we plan to use in any spells we might be casting; the oil and extra incense goes on the bottom shelf, too. We have some cloths that hang down far enough to conceal whatever’s on the shelf, but we rarely use them because the altar itself is so nice.