Christmas decorations

In addition to all the other stuff we have managed to cram into this week, we also found time to sit quietly(ish) for a few minutes and make some tree decorations.

At the moment the girls really enjoy crafts that smell good (like the pomanders), so dried fruit and cinnamon decorations were perfect. The idea for this craft was shamelessly borrowed from The Magic Onions.

We laid our supplies out on a plate, and then sat down to thread the pieces onto ribbons. I did have some natural raffia, but was outvoted, and we ended up using sparkly Christmas ribbons instead. But one of the (many) valuable lessons my girls have taught me is that the result will not always never be quite what I pictured, but as long as everyone has fun making it, then that is what counts. It's the journey, not the destination.

The finished decorations are currently hanging up as part of our seasonal window display, as we don't have a tree yet. But rest assured that once we do (maybe this weekend) they will take pride of place.

Oh, and we also made a gingerbread sleigh. The girls loved it, worked hard on it together, and enjoyed demolishing it at their Christmas party with all of their friends.

So all in all a week of balance - some soothing natural crafts, and some sugar fueled madness.

Perfect.