“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
Maya Angelou
Christmas preparation always stirs up my desire to create things, though what I make and how much effort I spend on it varies from year to year. Some ideas are inspired by other things I see, and some are ideas of my own. I think it comes from a simple desire to return to making something with my own hands – a tree ornament, a preserve, a flower arrangement, a gift tag or greeting card or a paper craft. It can even be creating a little collection of things that look nice together or setting a table with layers of interesting pieces. Losing myself in a creative project for a couple hours is also a good form of relaxation.
Ornaments
Over the years I have made, one or two at a time, most of the ornaments on our tree, and each prompts a memory of where we lived and what stage we were in our life when it was created. Others were gifts from friends that recall them to our minds as we decorate the tree. Ours is not an elegant tree with themed colours, though I do admire the beauty of those, but is a tree adorned with simple materials that hold memories of home, family and friends.
Vignettes
I like to create little Christmas and winter scenes where I will see them often. This year it is a little Danish nisse with her forest of mushrooms and one green plant on the window ledge above my sink, to give myself a little smile as I stand there washing up.
Some people do this with collectable seasonal items such as a train set, a quaint snow-covered village, gingerbread house, stars hanging from a window etc. Sometimes there are traditions about how things are arranged, and sometimes they change every year. Everyone seems to have a different vision for how the figures in the nativity scene should be placed!
Using Plants to Decorate
I always use amaryllis to brighten up my kitchen counter in December. This year I cut some dogwood branches and made a little cage to add some interest while the bulb is just starting to grow, and to provide structure when the flowers get heavy. I also added some moss and some spruce cones from our trees.
Arranging flowers for the table is an opportunity for some quick creativity . Mine are different each year depending on which florals are inexpensive and look nice. Some years, I clip branches from the garden and add some silver or gold baubles or berry picks. I enjoy trying different arrangements of the elements and using a variety of containers to highlight them.
Last year, I dried oranges to make strings of hanging ornaments for the sunroom and extras for the tree. I also used a couple in the base of our advent candles and in frozen ornaments to hang outside in our trees.
Paper Ornaments
I made these star ornaments last year, and after the first one, found I quite enjoyed making them though it would have been easier with thinner paper.
If you would like to try making them, there are several tutorials for various styles on YouTube. I found the one below quite easy to follow.
Sewing Gift Bags
As much as I enjoy wrapping presents in paper, I hate the pile of garbage that remains after Christmas gift openings. I had fabric and ribbon left over from other Christmas projects and decided to sew various sizes of bags with a drawstring closure at the top. I did some of these last year for in-house use and made a pile more of them for wider distribution this year. It gave me the pleasure of an afternoon sewing and the ability to reduce waste at the same time.
Baking and Gifts
I will be covering baking and other home-made gifts in future advent posts, so stay tuned!
Everyday Cheer 