What could be simpler or lovelier than a festive Christmas inspired by Mother Nature herself? Revive your pioneering spirit by tapping into the landscape's vivid colors, rich textures and natural fragrances to beautify your holiday home this year!

Shockingly inexpensive, nature's holiday decor is also fun to find and customize. Pack a picnic lunch and a thermos of hot cider, and head for the countryside!

Most of what you need is right there on any country road -- ivies trailing along the roadside, thistle-heads in open fields, bright red spice-berries and rosehips in the understory of most woodlands. Take the kids along and give each of them a disposable camera to record your memory-making experiences

1. Ivy-and-grapevine wreath Simply tuck tendrils of sweet green English Ivy in and around a wreath of foraged grapevine, twisted into a round, brown wreath shape. (Ivy works wonderfully well on a raffia or straw wreath as well!) For an elegant touch, entwine a length of gold or magenta gossamer ribbon around the wreath, tie a contrasting loop of ribbon at the top, and hang anywhere!

2. Cinnamon-apple garland Core and slice foraged windfall apples to form apple rounds, sprinkle with cinnamon and dry them on a cookie tray in a slow, 170-degree oven until they're leathery by not crisp. Use a pencil to drill a little hole at the top of each apple slice, then continue drying. Use twine or raffia to string the dried delectables into a garland to spice up any room!

3. Pine-cone glitterati Foraged pine-cones of any kind, a little bowl of glitter and a bit of florists' wire or even recycled ornament hooks are all you need. Put unopened cones on an aluminum tray in a 170-degree oven for a few minutes to open them up. Give each dry cone a quick spray with artists' adhesive, or dab on regular white glue, then dip the sticky cone into the glitter. A group of these look gorgeous in an old wooden salad bowl, atop a wooden tabletop that strewn with a few evergreen boughs and a handful of bright red foraged rosehips. Or use the wire or hooks and hang them on the tree, where tree lights will have the glitterati shimmering!

4. Willow wands and cobalt Contemporary elegant drama for almost nothing! Clip and arrange a "bouquet" of wispy green and yellow willow wands in a plain, clear vase. Toss in a handful of small, smooth inexpensive cobalt stones to cover the vase base, then hang a few cobalt blue glass ornaments from the willow branches.

5. Dried basket of bounty Fill a tall-handled reed or twig basket with stunning lengths of golden yarrow and dried golden wheat, accented with dried poppy heads and milkweed pods. For fragrance, tuck in a spray of silver garden sage or field-dried Sweet Annie. Sprinkle generously with crimson spice berries and tie a sprig of holly to the handle.

6. Colonial apple basket What could be simpler and more natural than an old basket filled with fragrant balsam and fir boughs, topped with shiny red, golden and green fresh apples? Tie a wide red ribbon to the handle and tuck in a strand of white cool-touch twinkle lights for a soft, traditional holiday glow on a sideboard or dining room table. Or alternate the apples with pears, oranges, lemons and pomegranates!

With Mother Nature as your one-stop shopping guide, you can hang the holly and trim the tree with the richest palette of colors, textures and fragrances imaginable ... so why shop anywhere else?

Kate Sheridan is a Michigan freelance writer, photographer and homesteader whose writings on the fun and foibles of country living may be found at http://www.gardenandhearth.com/RuralLiving.htm.