Homemade Christmas Ornaments

 

Our Christmas tree growing up was full of handmade ornaments from my brothers and myself as well as the assorted collection of ornaments we received each year in our stocking. The tree in our home now holds my collection of ornaments, Nate's ornaments and ornaments that we have collected together.  BG gets a new ornament every year in his stocking that Nate picks out and BG and I make one together as well.  I've made it a tradition to give our parents and backdoor neighbors the handmade ornament from BG as part of our gift to them.

For his first Christmas in 2012 he was just a few weeks old so I decided to make salt dough ornaments.  The dough was a simple mixture of salt, flour and water that I cut out with my biscuit cutters, pressed his hands and feet into (he was so tiny!) and then poked the edges all the way around with a toothpick for a little extra flair.  After baking for hours at a very low temp I was able to write his name and the date on the back before giving them to our parents/neighbors.

 

 

Last year we made cinnamon applesauce ornaments.  These not only look cute but they smell divine for years on our Christmas trees!  The recipe that I used is the same one that we used when I was in fourth grade. I can still remember mixing bowl after bowl with Mr. S and then smelling them as they laid to dry all around our classroom.  I continued that tradition each year with my own students and I always looked forward to the natural seasonal scent that it gave our classroom for the month of December!  When I made these with BG I was able to bake them slowly since there were just a few versus an entire classes worth. Once they cooled I just traced it with red puffy paint for a little extra pizazz! The back has his name and the date as well.

 

 

This year I was torn between two designs - I guess I know what we'll do next year! I already had clear ornaments and I knew that it may be the last year that he would let me be in charge of the painting.  While my mom was here I had her help by painting his entire hand white and then printed each of the clear bulbs.  I had seen the idea before several times but always on a colored bulb so I worried these may not turn out as boldly in the end.  Thankfully, once I added the colorful scarves, faces and hats I realized the clear bulbs worked just fine!  His little hand is just so precious to me and I love that we have commemorated it again this year.  I added his initials and the date on the palm of his handprint as well.  I hope the recipients love them as much as I do!

 

 

 

 

Now to get some more bulbs at the end of the season so we're ready for 2015's ornament!