Last Minute Christmas Decorations

So we're spending a few days with family in Norfolk. As we're staying in a holiday cottage, the lack of Internet has prevented me from posting on our activities but not to craft. As we are guests here, the tree is a little bit bare so we have joined forces with my sister-in-law and her children to get decorating.
Here are our ideas for some very last minute decorations:
- wrapping paper concertina
- felt ornaments
- decorated wooden ornaments
- pre-cut foam reindeer and sleighs
- Father Christmas on a lollipop stick
- decorated paper boxes
My lovely sister-in-law brought this great book of Christmas paper crafts which I look forward to using too.

Pain d'epices and Recycled Baubles

It was Lilo's playgroup Christmas party today, so I thought we would bring something baked to contribute. This morning, Ju and I made a "pain d'epices", which is a French spiced honey cake. Although it translates literally as spice bread, it is not the same as gingerbread and it has its roots in China, from where it was brought over in the Middle Ages. It is also a cousin of German Lebkuchen. We used to eat this a lot for snack time as children and I have never really associated it with Christmas time, but it contains all the usual spices. I adapted the recipe from French recipe site marmiton to make it gluten-free.

Pain d'epices

- 250 g honey

- 250 g flour (I used Doves gluten-free plain flour)
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground anise
- 1 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 eggs
- 50 ml milk

Pre-heat the oven at 160°C.

Heat up the honey in a saucepan until really runny and pour it into a bowl containing the flour, baking powder, sugar and spices. Mix well with a wooden spoon and gradually beat in 2 eggs and the vanilla extract, then add the lukewarm milk.

Ju stirs the cake mixture

Pour the mixture into a greased and floured loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour and turn out the cake when it has cooled down completely.

It keeps for one week wrapped in foil. 

Slice of delicious pain d'epices

It is delicious spread with butter or on its own and eating it takes me right back to childhood. The texture is slightly chewy and so moist, especially considering there is no fat in it. It is also deliciously sweet and spicy, a real taste of Christmas one can enjoy at any time of year. Luckily, even though it was appreciated at play group, competing cupcakes made by another mum meant there was some left over, so I took it home so Ju could try it after nursery.

Pain d'epices tasting

Santa and Elf Recycled Baubles

In previous years, we have made a footprint ceramic bauble at The Ceramic Experience and I have made various fabric baubles using polystyrene balls. On Day 1 we also made a string and glue ornament, which was pretty much a bauble, although not completely round. Baubles are definitely a must on any Christmas tree

String and glue ornament (top), fabric bauble (bottom left) and ceramic bauble (bottom right)

I have in the house coloured plastic balls from a ball pit that has been moved up to the attic, and I thought of a use for them today, which also allows us to complete another one of our Christmas countdown activity: to make a Christmas bauble. I started by putting a needle with thread through the top to ensure we could hang the bauble. 

Needle with thread through the top of the plastic ball

Then we took some felt and I cut a section from a circle so the boys could make hats for the tops of their baubles. We use Copydex to glue felt, seems to work quite well.

Ball, felt circle with section cut off and red marabou trim

Lilo wanted to make a Santa and Ju a little elf. Both boys glued their hats on and then decorated the bauble with trimmings of red marabou for Ju's elf's beard and cotton wool for the hat trim, bobble, and the beard. I helped Lilo stick some googly eyes and a black belt with a yellow buckle cut out of felt.

Ju gets gluing

Santa's eyes and beard

The boys couldn't wait to put their baubles in the tree. They are definitely getting the hang of this (!).

Ju's elf bauble

Lilo's santa bauble

Christmas tree fairies and hot chocolate

It was a beautiful, cold sunny day today so we met up with friends and their 3 year old son in town, and we all went to see the reindeer on display as part of the Christmas celebrations in our town. Our favourite was a 7-month-old white calf called Gavin. They were eating lichen and we found out lots about their antlers. 

Reindeer

We spent a lot of time outside  today, going up on the Ferris wheel and playing in the play park. A lovely hot chocolate with marshmallows was a well deserved treat, and it was also one of our Christmas garland countdown activities.

View from the top of the Ferris wheel

Hot chocolate and marshmallows

Our recipe is for a thick, Spanish-style hot chocolate, courtesy of Jamie Oliver. This makes a mix, which you can keep in a jar and re-use as required, or give as a gift.

• 2 tablespoons Horlicks

• 2 tablespoons cornflour

• 3 tablespoons icing sugar

• 4 tablespoons quality organic cocoa

• 100g quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely grated

• a pinch of ground cinnamon

• a pinch of sea salt

For 1 pint of semi-skimmed milk, you need 5 heaped tablespoons of the hot chocolate mix. Heat up the milk (don't let it boil), then add the hot chocolate mix and stir over a medium heat until the chocolate starts to thicken. Ju likes to help stir the hot chocolate with a wooden spoon. For the children, I dilute the hot chocolate half and half with cold milk, which makes it slightly weaker and cools it down instantly. For Darling Him, I add a pinch of chilli powder. We all add some mini-marshmallows for an extra special treat and then it's time to enjoy...

Christmas tree fairies

We also made some quick tree fairies today, using wooden pegs. I cut out circles from some glittery Christmas drape which we got from the pound shop. I made a small hole in the middle, through which Lilo and Ju pushed the head of the wooden peg through.

Ju pushes the wooden peg through the hole

We then wrapped a white pipe cleaner around the neck and the fabric, and twisted it to the back, then wound the two ends of the pipe cleaner into 2 fairy wing shapes.

Creating the fairy wings with pipe cleaner

Then we glued some poylester filling on the head to make the hair and a silver bead chain around the waist to create the body and the skirt.

Glueing on hair and creating the waist of the fairy

It was then time for Ju to draw on some eyes and a smiley mouth with Sharpie marker pens and our beautiful tree fairies were ready.

Ju draws eyes and mouth on his fairy

Lilo's tree fairy

The boys enjoyed putting the fairies on the branches of our Christmas tree, although they first had to work out how to slot the branches between the fairies' peg legs.

It's hard work putting the fairy on the tree

Ju's tree fairy

This activity was featured in:

Pretty Christmas Lights

Day 4
Today is the day when we went to see the lights in town, to be precise the turning on of the Christmas lights in our area of town. There were jolly bagpipers, sweet carol singers, a marching brass band, a drumming samba band, hot mulled wine and of course, a huge Christmas tree with lights.

All this under a light sprinkling of snow for extra Christmas spirit.




And what did the boys make of it? Well, Ju was fast asleep in the buggy and neither the loud beating drums nor the pipes could rouse him. But Lilo thoroughly enjoyed the lights appearing on the tree and loved the music.

Lilo listens to the local primary school  carol singers and watches the Christmas tree
 lights being turned on

Ooh! The pretty lights!

 This morning, Lilo and I also made some dried orange slices to hang on the tree, following instructions on Red Ted Art's page.

We fitted ours with cinnamon and star anise and tied red ribbon to hang them up. Lilo enjoyed tasting the cinnamon sticks and took a bite from the dry orange skin. The orange slice decorations really smell and look great! And so easy to make too.