Christmas Around the World

  Happy Thursday ! 

We are at the Melville Library today and our  Christmas Stop is Europe! 

We are Reading today ! 

A World of Cookies for Santa takes readers across the globe to see all the treats that await Santa on Christmas Eve. Head to the Philippines, where children leave out puto seko cookies and ginger tea for Santa; jet to Russia for a honey-spice cookie; then set out for Malawi for a sweet potato cookie! When you've returned home, the journey's still not over—M. E. Furman provides recipes for children to bake some of Santa's cookies for themselves.  

England

Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrelated English folkloric tradition.

Austria, Switzerland, and Germany 

— Christkind or Christkindl. Christkind or "Christ Child" is the benevolent (usually female) gift-bringer who leaves presents for good children on Christmas Eve, much like her more famous counterpart, Santa Claus

Russia

In Russia, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. Many Russian Christmas traditions originated with the pagan culture that predated Christianity in Russia. Long-standing Russian Christmas customs include caroling, fortune-telling, and following a strict Nativity Fast for forty days leading up to Christmas Eve

T he Russian Santa Claus is named Ded Moroz, or Father Frost. On New Year's Eve, he places presents for children under the New Year tree (as opposed to a Christmas tree). He is accompanied by Snegurochka, a snow maiden said to be his granddaughter

Honey Spice Cookies : ( From Russia) 

• 1 Egg
• 1/4 C Honey
• 2 1/4 C Flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp  baking soda
• 3/4 C butter
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

• Pre heat oven 350
• Cream Sugar and butter, add honey and egg and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Form mixture into balls and dip in Sugar . Place on greased cookie sheet and bake 7 minutes. 

• Next Week we celebrate 
  
  
  

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HoHo Rustic Santa

Today iam sharing a Christmas  decorating   outside my house. 

Painted Santa

Jolly old St Nick is painted on an old shelf board. Lots of bright red and white fur textured with fake snow. 

Stay turn for more paint project 

I am all about rustic homemade Christmas with a tree in a planter ,wrapped in plaid,natural pine cones decorations  and re claimed barn wood boards. 

Pine cones decorations 

From my yard I made these with a few supplies and my trusty glue gun. 

Let It Snow

 

How is the weather where you live ? 

I saw some of my family got snow this late in the year. It's Rainy and warm here in Louisiana. But for those with Snow! 

I made this cute Snow shaker card  on some of my favorite plaid card stock. 

I used some old acetate from another project, foam tape cut to fit the window,  and snowflake sequins to fill the shaker. 

DIY Crafts : Ornaments

 DIY  Christmas Ornaments 

I gathered all my old pony beads  and made a cute ornaments . Its Friday Free project  

• Clear or colored  Pony Beads
• Cookie Cutt
• Fishing Line

• Arrange your cookie cutters on a flat pan lined with aluminum foil. Then fill your cookie cutters with beads. Then using a toaster oven or oven bake at 450 for 8 to 12 minutes or until beads melt. Let Col . Then unmold and hang with line or ribbon. 

Tips for Baking: 

• Melt the pony beads in a toaster oven OUTSIDE or on your porch so you don’t smell up your house.
• Have a designated baking sheet for melting beads – pick one up at the dollar store for future projects.
• Always use metal cookie cutters.  Plastic cookie cutters will…well….melt or burn. Yuck.
• We used clear pony beads, but any kind of pony bead will do.
• Do a VERY THIN layer of beads in the cookie cutter. If you put too many inside the cookie cutter, you will NOT be able to pop the ornament out of the cookie cutter when it dries.

Candy Cane Bark

 

• 24 ounces Nestle Premier White Morsels {2 bags 12 ounces each}
• 1¼ cups Crushed Candy Canes {approx. 22 – 28 standard sized candy canes}

Instructions

• Unwrap Candy Canes and place in freezer-size Ziploc Bag
• Crush candy canes by rolling over the bag with a Rolling Pin, until you have them to your desired texture {small little chunks}
• Place White Chocolate baking chips in large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave for 45 seconds, Stir, then microwave in increments of 30 seconds, stirring between each time, until chocolate is melted.
• Stir in 1/2 of crushed candy canes to melted chocolate, then spread out evenly on your foil-lined cookie sheet. {*I used Non-Stick Aluminum Foil, but if using regular aluminum foil, spray with nonstick cooking spray first}
• Once mixture has been spread out, sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/2 of crushed candy cane pieces.
• Place in refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour to let harden.
• Remove from refrigerator, remove from aluminum foil, and break into pieces.

Christmas Tags

Christmas gift Tags 

I love making Christmas tags for my packages from odd bits and pieces from past Christmas paker kits and stickers.    Lisa 

Napkin project

This Decopodge project started with a napkin

I used a Christmas napkin, jar , mod podge and fake snow. 

Direction 

Clean out a jar, remove label . Wipe with alcohol to remove glue. 

Separate the napkin layers and cut to size. 

Cover jar with white paint. Let dry, add mod podge.  Add napkin to front and add fake snow to sides. Let dry. 

Add ribbon on top and bow. 

You can add lights or battery operated candle inside to light your jar.