For people who have long tables to host dinner parties for guests, a table runner, candles, and flowers usually make up the centerpiece. This year, why not try something new? Most hardware stores carry battery powered Christmas lights. Arrange the lights down the center of the table, doubling or tripling their length until you’ve got 2 or 3 rows of lights in a narrow 3 or 4 foot row down the center of your table. Then, take small lengths of fresh pine branches and lay them over the lights, picking up the lights and entwining them in the branches so the wires don’t show; the lights should poke up through the needles. Add fragrant scented pine cones, a few Christmas ornaments, or nestle some colorful small fruits in amongst the branches. When you turn them on – you will have a delightful long, lighted centerpiece, with the added advantage that you will not have to peer at each other around tall vases of flowers or candle stems!
