Cinnamon Garland

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."

~ W. T. Ellis

CINNAMON GARLAND

Thin rope
Brown floral tape
#20 wire
3 inch cinnamon sticks
2-1/2 inch wide ribbons

~ Cut the rope long enough to drape over the window and cut 2 pieces of the rope for the drop at each side.

~ Loop a 12 inch piece of wire through each cinnamon stick, twist the ends together, and cover with the floral tape.

~ Wire 5 to 6 cinnamon sticks to make a cluster, then wire the cluster to the rope. Repeat this until the garland is full.

~ Tie bows with the ribbons and fasten them, with streamers, to the side of each garland.

An Award

Thank you to Julie at Nunnie's Attic for passing on this award! I love Christmas so really appreciate receiving this :) Thank you Julie!

I'm going to pass the award on to my friend Heidi at Celebrate the Seasons. She makes all the seasons jolly *big smile*

Answering a Few Questions :)

About cranberries... I'm not sure how long they last in crafts, since it depends on whether the item you're making is for outside where the cold weather would help preserve them, or if they're for inside where it's warm ~ or for that matter where they might be in the house. I would think that there'd be a difference in how long an item would last if they're placed near a fireplace or wood-burning stove, compared to being placed on or near a window where they might still get some cold.

One of my favorite things I've ever seen with cranberries is a wreath that was featured on the cover of one of the older Martha Stewart Living Magazines. She's since done the same wreath using red beads, so it lasts for more than one Christmas. You can find the directions for that one here :)

About the applesauce ornament garland... I have a few different directions for making a garland or swag using the applesauce ornaments. I think they were in a couple of the Leisure Arts Spirit of Living books (those are my all-time favorites, and I have one for each of the last 20 years!). One of my favorites was where they strung them on a coarse jute cord and between the applesauce ornaments they added wooden beads and strips of homespun tied on to the cord.

New England Decorations

"The simple things that bless our fireside,
The peace and joy we shared, the love sublime,
The heritage of home at Christmastime!"

~ E. Sherman Smith

"Years ago, Portuguese families living on the New England coast, placed a candle in each window to welcome visitors to their homes. Modern New Englanders of many backgrounds do the same, but with electric candles."

~ From 'The Time-Life Book of Christmas' (1987)



"Not everyone has last-minute shopping to do. In a Maine farmhouse, preparations for Christmas are all but complete. The tree is decorated, presents are wrapped and in place. Cranberry bread, a special holiday recipe, bakes in a cast-iron oven, its sweet aroma spreading from the kitchen through the house. Wood has been cut and stockpiled; already a small blaze dances in the fireplace. In front of the fire sit the providers of this scene of peace and plenty, quietly watching the flame and enjoying its glow. Tomorrow will bring children and grandchildren, laughter and a hearty dinner. But as evening descends over the snow-covered hills the words of the old carol could not be more true: 'All is calm, all is bright.' "

~ From 'The Time-Life Book of Christmas' (1987)



Decorate your home with...

~ pine branches (swags, wreaths, or homemade garlands)
~ pinecone wreaths...
~ bowls or baskets filled with pinecones and some cinnamon sticks for a pleasant aroma
~ make cranberry wreaths, small cranberry trees, or string cranberries for the tree
~ use seashells, sand dollars, or star fish to make ornaments or wreaths.



A BOOK RECOMMENDATION

'A Yankee Christmas' by Sally Ryder Brady (1992) is a great book for anyone who loves New England. It's full of traditions, crafts, and delicious recipes. It was published by Yankee Books, Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

A Pine Cone Wreath and a Cranberry Tree

PINECONE WREATH ~

These wreaths really hold up well if you take care of them. I still have one I use each year that my mother made in 1967 ~ 40 years ago! I've needed to fill in a couple of places and add a different bow, but it still looks wonderful!

About 50 large pinecones (about 5-6 inches)
About 30 medium pinecones(about 4 inches)
About 20-25 small pinecones (about 3 inches)
About 12 of the "fat" rosette cones
Assorted tiny pinecones, milkweed pods, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves
A triple wire wreath frame
Glue gun
Spool of thin-medium gauge wire
Bow (optional)

~ Soak the large and medium pinecones in warm water for a few hours to soften and open.
~ Insert these large cones around the outside of the wreath frame, keeping them close together, and secure with wire (wrapped through the cone and onto the frame).
~ Insert the medium cones around the inside of the frame. Let the wreath stand in a warm room for a day or two, so the cones open up and become tightly fixed in place.
~ Using a glue gun, or wire, fill in the middle strip of the wreath frame with the small cones and the rosettes.
~ When the wreath is full of the pinecones, use the tiny cones, pods, cinnamon sticks and cloves to fill in any empty spaces. The cinnamon sticks and cloves also add a nice scent to the wreath.
~ Attach a wire on the back for hanging, and a bow on the front, if desired.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A CRANBERRY TREE

1 styrofoam cone
Fresh cranberries
A few boxes of wooden toothpicks
Sphagnum moss
Glue
Sprig of holly leaves

~ Glue the moss to the cone to cover.
~ Break the toothpicks in half, and insert one end into a cranberry, and then the other end into the cone. Continue until the cone is full of berries.
~ Attach the holly leaves at the top of the cone using glue.

A Year Older...

The Keeping of Christmas turned one year old on November 1st! I was so busy with things that I didn't even realize it, although I should have remembered, since I started this blog just a few weeks after I began Joyful Blessings.

The reason I noticed the anniversary of this blog is because I came across an email I sent to one of my lists last year on November 2nd. It included things on my to-do list for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I really had to smile when I noticed that it's almost exactly the same as my to-do list this year. I guess some things never change :)

So, since I'm a big list maker, here's my letter that I wrote last year on November 2nd. No need to re-do it since everything seems to still apply!


How can it possibly be November??!! I have too much on my "to do and make" list, and it's never going to get done. So, the rest of this week I'm concentrating my efforts on organizing myself for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm working on some lists:


THANKSGIVING:
Menu
Shopping List
Table decorations
Serving dishes used only on special occasions
Linens for the table



Next is Christmas. Lists there are:


GIFTS:

~ Refine my gift list of people that I keep on the computer (as an email in my drafts folder ~ I check it often throughout the year and update things by using different colors)
~ Items still needed to purchase (I've been shopping throughout the year so I'm already finished with a few people)
~ Items still to be made. I'm afraid this will be cut down from my original plans. I've been spending too much time cross stitching and not working on gifts, lol.


CARDS:

~ I've had all our cards since the spring (when Lang had a really great online sale!). I need to go over my list and will start addressing envelopes next week.
~ Decide on a photo to copy and include.
~ Start writing notes and letters. I like to make them personal and handwritten, so I'll pull out my holiday stationery and start working on them. If I find myself running short on time, I can always type up something for the ones that are left.


BAKING:

~ I want to go through my books and pull out the cookie recipes to make this year. I'm hoping to get lots of extras done, to use as gifts. Since we mail most of our gifts around the country (due to several moves, lol), I'd like to get this done early and mail them just after Thanksgiving.
~ So, that means I'll make up shopping lists this week. I've already begun adding items to my regular weekly shopping so it's not such a big amount all at once.
~ I also need to purchase some more tins for shipping the cookies.


MEALS:

~ Finally, I need to go through favorite cookbooks and come up with meals for the holiday. Since we'll have a houseguest for a week, I want to come up with some special meals for that time, as well as for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day.

I also want to come up with some meal ideas/menus for the next several weeks, up to the holidays. That way I don't have to think, and can just look at my list of ideas :) DH travels often, so it's difficult to plan too far ahead of what I'll make each night. As long as I have a list of menus and all the ingredients in the freezer and pantry (which I normally do), life will be
easier.

And.... since we'll have a houseguest, I need to make a list of things to do in the guestroom
to make it welcoming. I love to put up a small tree, add a basket with goodies, and use pretty linens.

I know I'm probably forgetting something, but that's a good start :) I decided to go ahead and tell all of you my plans, so that I can be held accountable as we go along. I've pulled a few books off my shelves which have some wonderful ideas for the holidays, and I hope to get those shared with all of you. Now, I'm off to start those lists!!

~ Joanne

PS Since I've been in a Christmas mood, I couldn't resist starting a Christmas blog, lol. I have a lot more to add to my favorites, but this is a start. If you want to check it out, it's here:
http://thekeepingofchristmas.blogspot.com/

Victorian Decorating

"The Victorians practically invented Christmas ~ at least the jolly Christmas we know today. Though Christmas had been celebrated since the fourth century, many of our modern customs were refined and popularized in the Victorian era. Ebenezer Scrooge, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, Christmas cards, advertising for shopping, caroling, and an emphasis on childhood and feasting around the family table all became an important part of Christmas in the nineteenth century."

~ Candy Paull, 'Christmas Abundance'


VICTORIAN DECORATING ~

"Charles Dickens and Prince Albert, who brought many German customs to his marriage to Queen Victoria, are perhaps more responsible than any others for the popularity of the Christmas celebration. They began the revival of that warm, generous, sentimental celebration of the day. Said Dickens of the holiday, 'Christmas is a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of other people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys'." ~ From 'The Christmas Lover's Handbook" by Lasley F. Gober



Celebrate Christmas with the elegance of the Victorian era.

~ Add garlands and bows to staircases
~ Use crocheted doilies as placemats, table runners, or for decorative accents
~ Drape a fringed silk scarf on the mantel
~ Use a few yards of taffeta, velvet or brocade draped around the tree for an elegant tree skirt ~ Decorate the tree with small nosegays, silk tassels, paper and fabric fans, chandelier pieces, paper doilies folded into fans, and cornucopias
~ Use long ropes of pearls and gold beads or old lace as garlands
~ Wrap plain glass balls in a piece of nylon netting and tie at the top with a pretty ribbon...
~ Make a Victorian crazy-quilt stocking from scraps of velvet, brocades, taffetas, ribbons and lace. Trace a favorite stocking pattern onto a piece of fabric, or purchase a plain stocking, and then decorate by adding your scraps in a pretty design.

At the dinner table:

~ Have an ornate place card and menu at each place setting
~ Cover a small box with a gold doily and fill with old-fashioned candy for a token gift
~ Make a Christmas cracker for each guest. In Victorian times they contained a toy, joke, and a paper crown. Many stores still carry them today. You can make your own easily. Use a cardboard tube about 4 inches long and fill with candies and tiny treats. Wrap the tube with bright colored or gold tissue paper so you have a "ruffle" of paper at each end of the tube. Tie with curling ribbon streamers.