Perfect Christmas Preparations – Amphora centrepiece

We don’t often think of the Greeks as great Christmas decorators, and indeed this idea bears only the slightest relation to Greece, using as it does the effect of a simple terracotta centrepiece to make us think of ancient civilizations at this time of feasting and drinking.

You need:

• A large and fairly deep terracotta bowl – a garden planter is ideal, as long as it is completely water tight, a real amphora looks great, if you have one, but then you have to do without the candles
• Garden plant material such as evergreens, eucalyptus sprays, branches of winter jasmine complete with flowers
• Fruits and nuts such as dates, loquats, kiwi fruit and pecans, walnuts and brazil nuts in their shells.
• Artificial berry sprigs, wire, glue, superglue, scissors, pretty wrapping paper secateurs and some floating candles

You need to twist some wire into a circle slightly larger than the bowl – the addition of foliage will make it fit comfortably on top. Now wire the plant material and berry sprigs all the way around the edge, making sure it is equally balanced between inside and outside the circle. Cut the wrapping paper into small circles and glue a circle to each item of fruit or a nut – then make lots of small wire insertions so that one end is a spike that will stick into the circlet and the other is a small circle to which you can glue the paper and fruit. Glue the fruits to the wire and then plunge them into the circlet. Fill the bowl with water and place the floating candles on top. Light the candles just before sitting down to dinner. A lovely subtle glow will rise up from the bowl and at the end of the meal your guests can be ‘served’ with the fruit and nuts. Give everybody a fruit knife so that they can carve away the paper which is stuck to the fruit before eating.

Amphora photograph by Linda H, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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