Homemade Christmas

Written 12/18/2021, edited and posted 12/18/2022.

I enjoy Christmastime with the memories, traditions, baking, family get-togethers, and time to refocus. I have usually done quite a bit of baking by this time but this year I have not yet started. 

I am in the process once again of moving, but this time locally, not long distance. The process has been pretty drawn out. Between no actual deadline, long work hours, multiple medical appointments, and needed rest time, I simply have not been able to get things done as quickly as hoped. The boxes from my last move are largely still packed and stacked in various locations. This actually has made it more challenging to try to get furniture accessible to move. I have moved some boxes and some smaller furniture, but still have larger items to move and a lot more boxes.  I have had fun with setting up my new place and moving in the things from my old place that have been in storage for years. 

I knew I eventually would want my own Christmas decorations but had planned to wait and shop after-Christmas-sales. However, Black Friday sales had amazing deals and my dad decided not to have a tree or anything. It didn't seem right to have nothing. So...I got a small artificial tree! I have always been used to real trees and this tree is easier as no need to remember to water it. Because my dad did not get a tree, everyone came over to my place to put lights on my tree! I had not made ornaments yet or anything. I have a book of patterns for making thread crochet delicate snowflakes and I have made a couple years ago, but I am not sure where either the book or the snowflakes are at present. I do have my own ornaments somewhere, but not really sure where. I know my decoration preferences are simple, homemade, yet festive, when it comes to holidays. My kitchen accessory theme is gingerbread. It only made sense to continue a gingerbread theme to a tree! I would have loved to make cranberry and popcorn garland, but time did not allow. So I found wooden beads, painted red, that look like cranberries! Perfect garland. I found a pattern to crochet a "popcorn" garland and I bought the yarn, but this might have to wait until next year. I made gingerbread "cookie" (cinnamon salt dough) ornaments and painted them with fabric paint to mimic icing. I made dried orange slice ornaments, hung candy canes, and am planning to make regular white salt dough snowflake ornaments. I think it would be fun to make a cinnamon salt dough "gingerbread" village of houses. The smell of baking cinnamon salt dough and orange slices is amazing! 

 

Ornament "Recipes"

1. Cinnamon Salt Dough
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup cinnamon
1 cup warm water
Directions: 
Sift together dry ingredients. Add warm water to make a dough. More or less water may be needed. I added most of the water, then all, then got additional. Knead the dough for several minutes to help finish mixing and make the dough smooth. Roll out to approximately 1/4 inch thick, cut with cookie cutters. Poke holes for hanging the ornaments in the top with a drinking straw or use a toothpick to poke and enlarge a hole. Bake at 225 degrees, 2 hours or until dry. The tops will lighten and these can be rubbed with a bit of cooking oil to return them to original color. Cool completely before decorating. I used fabric paint and it worked well. Allow the paint to dry fully. Once dry, I threaded red and white twist twine through the hole in each ornament for hanging. I initially planned to paint both sides, but it took so long for the first side to dry and I used so much white paint, and I ran out of time and motivation, thus ended up not painting the other side. I may do so next year. Or, I may make different ornaments depending on how these store. 

 

 

 

2. Dried Orange Slices
Ingredients:
Oranges
Directions:
Slice oranges into even thickness slices and place slices on parchment lined baking pan. Pat with paper towels to blot juice. Bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours or until dry and desired degree of color. These get darker with longer baking. Allow to cool fully. Once cool, use a tapestry needle and fine, clear beading thread to make hangers. I threaded the needle with the line, then used the needle to puncture a hole near the rind, and pull the line through. I strung all of my slices on, then gradually cut off desired length to line and tied. 

3. Salt Dough

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup warm water
Directions:
Sift together dry ingredients. Add warm water to make a dough. More or less water may be needed. I added most of the water, then all, then got additional. Knead the dough for several minutes to help finish mixing and make the dough smooth. Roll out to approximately 1/4 inch thick, cut with cookie cutters. Poke holes for hanging the ornaments in the top with a drinking straw or use a toothpick to poke and enlarge a hole. Bake at 225 degrees, 2 hours or until dry. Cool completely before decorating. I used white acrylic paint to make the snowflakes white. Then, I used glitter fabric paint and it worked well. Allow the paint to dry fully. Once dry, I threaded clear beading thread through the hole in each ornament for hanging. 

 

 

 

Do It Yourself "Tree Skirt"

All you need is a white sheet or piece of fabric. I was going to use a flat sheet but had no white ones and none of my others looked Christmasy. Stores didn't have inexpensive white flat sheets in stock. So, I ended up at Goodwill looking for sheets. I found a decent sized piece of white tulle fabric at Goodwill and my sister gave me an old white dust ruffle that had seen better days. I layered the tulle over the dust ruffle and draped and arranged it around the base of the tree. I grew up with a white sheet as a tree skirt and it always made me think of snow. So, this was fun to incorporate old memories. 

 

2022 Observations
Written 12/18/22

All of the ornaments actually stored pretty well from last year to this year. The orange slices darkened a little, but I still used them again this year. The glitter fabric paint yellowed somewhat. For now, I am still using the ornaments as is. However, I have enough extra ornaments from last year that I never finished decorating, that I can easily try other options to get sparkle, but without a huge glitter mess. The gingerbread salt dough village has still not been created. The crocheted popcorn garland is in progress, but since I did not start it until a few weeks ago and have been super busy with work, the garland will not be ready this year either. 

 

I am thoroughly enjoying having a Christmas tree decorated with homemade ornaments. I love the way it looks and I enjoyed getting to make my ornaments myself!

Copyright © 2022 by Only By God's Grace. All rights reserved.

Reflecting Over 20 Years

This date (October 24, 2002) is one my body will not let me forget. I have written about this date and what happened in the past. The last time I wrote about it was five years ago. I finally had some answers at that point. Enough has happened over the past five years that it is interesting to reflect back again now. On this date 20 years ago, my life was changed in a split second by a random stranger. The car I was driving was struck from behind by another car. The other driver was not paying attention. I was fully stopped, waiting to make a turn. The other car was traveling at full speed. The impact totaled both vehicles. The impact also introduced me to never-ending chronic pain. I already had a history of non-healing injuries, but nothing that matched neck and back pain that never gave me a break. Chiropractic, physical therapy, and other treatment strategies only provided partial relief. I longed to know when I would get better, back to normal. The initial prognosis was three months to give my body time to recover. Three months came and went and I was not better. After I passed the 6-month mark, I was told it was chronic pain and it might not ever get better. I was not prepared to even contemplate never getting better. I clung to hope that someday, somehow, it would get better. Over the years, I gradually learned to accept that pain is part of my life, part of my normal daily existence. Over the years, it also became very plain that there was something else underlying my inability to recover fully from the accident. I not only had chronic pain, but also chronic fatigue, numerous allergies, various other issues. After several years, things sort of calmed into a manageable state and I moved out of state for graduate school. The stress of graduate school slowly, but surely, undermined the control I had gained over pain, fatigue, and other issues. I ended up with massive pain and fatigue flares, allergies out of control. I also needed five surgeries during the time I was in graduate school. The wear and tear on my body was such that I completed my Master's degree, but withdrew from school just shy of completing my doctorate degree. I have still never been able to complete this final degree. Instead, I had to accept that my body cannot handle the stress of graduate school and academia. My final semester of graduate school, I finally was given partial answers to the medical chaos that had been my existence for so long. I was diagnosed with classical Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). There was suspicion of dysautonomia, but I was not diagnosed with neurocardiogenic syncope (NCS) for another 1.5 years. 

Five years ago, I finally better understood why I could not heal, why I could not fully recover. What I did not know when I wrote five years ago was that another car accident was in my future in just a couple of weeks (November 8, 2017). Once again, a random stranger struck the vehicle I was driving with such force that both vehicles were totaled. I was in shock that it had happened....and that it had happened again. This time I was t-boned by someone who ran a red light. I was 3 months post-op my second hip surgery (right hip), at the time and my hip surgeon had me get checked in the ER to rule out fractures. I checked out alright, but pretty much lost the ability to walk more than a few steps at a time. However, my entire body hurt so much I could not manage crutches again, either.  It was a long and scary several months as I tried to recover and questioned if I'd be able to recover, and if so, to what extent. I was clinging to the Lord to just get through each monument of each day. 

The blessing of knowing about the underlying conditions this time, meant I was able to be more proactive and I better understood what was happening. Gratefully, after several months, I actually returned to previous baseline without additional repercussions. There have been several more surgeries since then, but for EDS-related issues and not due to the second car accident. 

Fast forward another five years, and I have gained better management of the various chronic medical conditions. I am not pain-free, I do still have intermittent fatigue, allergies, propensity to almost pass out if not careful, etc. But things are managed well enough that I was able to start working again three years ago and I am still going strong. All of this is only in God's strength and by God's grace. He has carried me through many difficult years. He is good. He loves me. 

Similar to my written thoughts several years ago, I never would have asked for chronic pain. I still would love for the pain to end. However, I would not ask to have the last 20 years of my life back pain-free. The reason is still the same. God has taught me so much more of Himself through the difficulties of pain, disappointments, inabilities, disabilities. 

Romans 8:26-28 (KJV)
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8&version=KJV

Copyright © 2022 by Only By God's Grace. All rights reserved.