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Over the years, I’ve made many arrangements for the holidays. From simple baskets filled with greens on the front porch to fancy piles of gold and green ornaments and fruits for the dining room table.

There are lots of easily made floral, fruit and greenery arrangements you can make for your home this holiday season. A few simple touches can create a very festive atmosphere.

Each year, I dig out my Christmas boxes and decide what to put where. I have angels, bells, candles, a Santa or two, lots of pinecones, sparkly roping and other tidbits I’ve collected over the years.

I planted two holly bushes in my yard (one male/one female) so I would have holly at Christmas. And, I scavenge anything else that looks good — from boxwood and dried hydrangeas to evergreen branches and the curly end branches on my wistaria. Depending on the weather, the rhododendrons still look pretty good. Then, I head to the local garden center to buy some greens, such as pine or bayberry, to fill in what I have.

For Thanksgiving, I raided my yard of evergreens, rhododendrons, holly, boxwood, the tips from an azalea bush (which looked amazingly like green roses) and some bamboo leaves to lighten things up. Then I tucked in a couple of peach-colored roses I took from a big bouquet I got at the supermarket to put in a vase. Total cost: $12.95.

Don’t be limited in your thinking. Pinecones, all types of dry flower pods (milkweed, lotus, poppy or anything else that looks pretty), citrus fruits studded with cloves, cinnamon sticks, leaves, and ornaments can be piled into a glass bowl or trifle dish for a lovely and easy arrangement. Add curls of ribbon or some of those shiny little ropes with stars attached.

Spray some of the dull looking dried items with a little gold, silver or copper paint to complement the ornaments you choose (or your dishes).

I’m not a fan of big arrangements at meals. I want to see all the faces around the table. I like something low for the dinner table and save the larger arrangements for the top of a china closet or rolltop desk in the dining room.

I use a low, log-shaped pottery dish for holiday dinners most years. I fill it with oasis, soak it with water and stick a tall candle in the middle flanked by two shorter candles. Then I tuck greenery into the oasis until it’s full. Accents might be tiny white and red carnations or small glass ornaments. One year (when I wasn’t responsible for dinner, too), I made colorful marzipan fruits and tucked those among the greenery. Garden centers in this area have lots of small ornaments (wrapped packages, grape clusters, sprays of pearls or dried seeds) wired to picks that can be tucked into arrangements.

Another option, especially for a buffet table, is a small tree designed in the same fashion from a cone-shaped piece of Styrofoam or oasis.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a mantel anymore and envy those who do; but, there are lots of great ideas for a mantel — from greenery, ribbons and tulle to pillar candles, angels, reindeer and other tall statues or ornaments.

I’m always on the lookout for interesting rolls of ribbon. It can be wound around greenery roping and wrapped around a banister, draped around a doorway or laid along a mantel. Or, weave it through the branches of the Christmas tree.

Not creative? A large piece of mistletoe can be tied with a streamer of narrow red and green ribbons and hung in a doorway anywhere in the house for a fun and festive touch.

Get poinsettias, a Christmas cactus or other flowering plant and set it somewhere you need a touch of color. (Just don’t put the hydrangeas near an outside door. They hate drafts).

Arrange small wreaths of greens around some pillar candles. Or, simply fill a tall vase with some dried eucalyptus branches.

Once you have a collection of ornaments, ribbons, dried goodies and ideas, an original arrangement will be at your fingertips each year.