My friend, Summer, wrote on a recent instagram post about how in the early years of parenting we do our best to “make Christmas happen”. Squeezing in activities and traditions until we are tired, burdened, and can’t even bear the thought of having one more thing we have to do. In the early years of my marriage this was me. I had this overwhelming need to re-live all of my Christmas traditions with my husband and felt compelled to drag him along. He willingly obliged, most of the time, but what I failed to realize was that there were new traditions that could have been made, had I taken the time or been willing to.
When I stepped out of the business world and became a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom things drastically changed for our family. We learned quickly that to live within the limits of a one income family meant our days became slower: we left our home less often, spent much less on entertainment, and learned to enjoy the things we already had. Very quickly our Christmas season became less rushed.
I hadn’t realized what a gift this was until recently. Instead of seeing our one income way of life as an inhibitor to our Christmas fun, I now cherish the slow season this has given us. A season full of reading, crafting, watching movies, baking, and focusing our hearts on the advent season.
The other thing it has given us is a handful of our own family traditions that have happened as traditions ought to: unforced and unforeseen. Rhonda Hetzel in her book, The Simple Home says,
“Traditions strengthen families – they reinforce a felling of belonging and help us to identify with our family culture.”
Two of the traditions our family has embraced are that of making salt dough ornaments and a dried orange garland, both of which can be done in a single afternoon.
We finished our studies a little early today and decided to use our free time this afternoon to work on crafting some holiday fun. I had a few clementines on hand and all of the ingredients needed to create the ornaments, so my children and I set to work. These activities are simple, but in case you haven’t tried them and don’t know where to start I thought would give some instructions here.
I hope that this season you find those unforeseen traditions that are special to your family.
Dried Orange Slices
- Oranges (we have used naval and clementines)
- Ribbon or Bakers Twine (I love this red velvet ribbon)
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Cooling Rack
- Large Sewing Needle
Preheat oven to 200º. Slice oranges 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick (the thinner you can get them the quicker they will dry). Use as many oranges as you need for your intended project. We used 9 clementines and plan to string them individually to place as ornaments on our tree). Place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake until dry, check often to make sure they are not burning (ours took 6 hours). Once you remove them from the oven place them on a cooling rack to continue drying. Once they are completely dry string them with ribbon or twine using a large sewing needle.
Salt Dough Ornaments
- 1 Cup salt
- 2 Cups Flour
- 3/4 Cup Water
- Christmas Cookie Cutters
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Ribbon or Bakers Twine
- Cooling Rack
- Drinking Straw
Preheat oven to 200º. Combine salt, flour, and water until it has a nice dough consistency (if it is too sticky, add more flour until it can be kneaded without sticking to your hands). Flour your surface and roll out the dough to 1/4″ thick. Cut out cookie shapes, use the drinking straw to add a whole with which to thread your ribbon for hanging. Place the ornaments on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake until dry, check often to make sure they are not burning (ours took 6 hours). Once they are dry string them with ribbon or twine using a large sewing needle. Use as decorations on your Christmas tree or gifts.
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