A Natural Christmas

My theme for this week of Advent has been "cherish and care for the earth". Each year, this first week, I bring nature indoors, by collecting greens, pine cones, straw, and other natural materials to use for decorations, and for making gifts.

I've been collecting fallen branches of evergreens for the last weeks, and now I will bring them inside to deck my halls. Greens are the first decorations I put up around the house, along with a few candles, to open the door to a little light, and to connect with the earth. Evergreens are a symbol of eternal life, and also symbolic protection against trouble. Today I bring the protective spirit of nature inside.

Agenda:

1. Make a stick tree hanging

2. Dry some oranges

3. Decorate our outdoor tree

4. Make sweet, salty, or spicy nuts

1. Make a stick tree hanging:

I saw this idea online, and it looked like an easy way to have a tree without cutting down a tree!

My older grandson loves sticks, so we collected a big armload of them on our walk home from pre-school one day this week. I tried to find sticks of a similar thickness.

When we got home, I cut them in to successively smaller lengths and tied them together with strong string.

It's hanging on our front door, and we are adding new decorations every day. 

We've been using glittery pipe cleaners to wire things securely on to the sticks, because this hanging is going to see a lot of toddler action.

So far: Pinecones, plastic balls, duplo people, 

The bottom row is baby friendly!

2. Dry some oranges:

I want to hang some dried oranges on our stick tree hanging. They seem simple to make:

1. Preheat the oven to 250ºF. Thinly slice your oranges.
2. Pat dry and place on a baking sheet lined with paper.
3. Bake! Check hourly to make sure the oranges are not burning. If they are starting to brown but not dried yet, reduce the temperature of the oven and keep checking until fully dry.

3. Decorate our outdoor tree:

We have stopped getting indoor trees, but we do have a small outdoor Christmas tree. We bought this tree at the start of the pandemic, and last year we planted it in our front yard Sanctuary Garden. This week I wrapped it in blinking lights and hung small ornaments on it.

4. Make sweet, salty, or spicy nuts:

This is a simple and nice alternative to baked goods. You can make them sweet, or salty-sweet, or spicy-sweet.

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 c. raw nuts (combine walnut or pecan halves, almonds, cashews, etc.)
• 1 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 2 teaspoons spices (I used half chili powder and half cinnamon on this batch, but cumin and black pepper also work)

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

2. Heat sugar, water, and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter is melted. Cook for 1 minute and remove from heat.

3. Combine any kinds of raw nuts in a large bowl. Add salt and spices if you want, and stir.

4. Drizzle the butter mixture over the nuts and stir to coat, the spread them out on the foil into a single layer.

5. Bake nuts in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then take them out and stir them around to make sure the syrup has coated them all. Spread back into a single layer and return to the oven for just a few more minute- watch them because they can burn easily. Allow to cool before serving.