As promised, another inexpensive Christmas craft involves cutting star shapes out of cardboard and then decorating them. You can paint them, cover them with shiny material (remember the tea box shiny paper?), wind ribbon and/or yarn around them or combine the different ideas. Check out this photo for ideas...
Just plain wrapping a star shape with yarn is easier for younger children and it results in a thick star. (One note: If you add some glue to the tips of the stars it will be easier to wind the yarn around them.) There's the shiny paper from a tea box simply attached with stick glue. The red star combines both the shiny paper and yarn and the bottom white star is wrapped partially with white yarn. That's just the beginning of ways to decorate the star shapes.
What to do with all the stars when finished? Attach a ribbon or string and hang them on the tree. Or, even better attach a ribbon to lots of stars and then attach them to a long piece of ribbon and use as a swag to hang on a window, wall, staircase, tree. etc.
A way to add natural items to a tree is to use dried fruit...
I cut the fruit into 1/2 inch thick slices, place them on a clean cookie sheet and dry them in a 250 degree oven turning them over once or twice. It can take a few hours to several hours depending on the humidity. I bought these oranges when they were on sale but right now oranges are very expensive in this area so I would probably not purchase them for drying. Apples on the other hand are very inexpensive and I would select the cheapest to dry.
A bowl full of dried fruit along with some whole cloves and pieces of cinnamon will add a natural sweet smell to the house. You can also put the slices in water along with the spices and slowly simmer them for a stronger fragrance. Just be sure you watch the pot so it doesn't dry out. You can also add a ribbon and hang the dried fruit. Or, if you string popcorn you can add a piece of dried fruit to the popcorn string every so often.
And, if you bought apples but have several left over why not make apple butter. I make it in a crockpot but you can also do it in the oven on very low temperatures. I cored and cut the apples into about one inch square chunks leaving the skin on if not bruised. Add both white and brown sugar and cinnamon and cook down slowly for several hours (14 hours on low in the crockpot). The amount of sugar depends on the amount of apple pieces and if you like it super sweet or less sweet. Once done cooking I used an immersion blender and this is what it looks like...
And it tastes wonderful! You can keep it in the frig for several weeks or freeze it for several months or even can it if you want.
I loved to watch Martha Stewart's shows about celebrating the holidays. She had some good ideas about decorating, baking and making big meals. However, and it's a big however, as much as I enjoyed the shows, I did not and do not...repeat...did not and do not feel like any celebrations that I create need to live up to perfection.
Case in point, last Thanksgiving, although I had the table set with a nice arrangement, tablecloth, etc. I did not set it with good china because when family and guests arrived, they congregated around the table as we were fixing the meal. What happened? Well, everyone grabbed an everyday plate out of the cupboard and dished up in the kitchen right from the pans on the stove.
It wasn't what I had planned but it turned out great, the food was so good that several went back for seconds but the best thing was the friendship, laughter, memories and sharing that made the day.
So, when you are planning your holiday celebrations don't include perfection in your plans. By lowering your expectations of perfection, you will be able to enjoy the reality that happens...even the ones that include a complete change of how you had imagined.
And when you are able to enjoy the reality of what happens, your body will respond with less stress which is alway a good thing. And while you're at it, smile more, laugh more, enjoy more...by doing that, those happy little hormones in your brain will release more of them making things even more enjoyable. It's kind of a win win situation.
That's all for now...have an amazing day...
Talk with you tomorrow...