Edible Ornaments: A New Tradition
During particularly hectic holiday seasons in the past, such as when there was a new baby in the house, my family often left the green tubs loaded with garlands and baubles in the basement. Instead, we created all of our decorations out of paper: paper chains, origami angels, lopsided snowflakes—all of which went into the recycling bin when the holidays were over.
Last Christmas, we were wistfully telling our friend David Horne about our paper holidays when he mentioned that when he was growing up everything on his Christmas tree was edible. Edible! Then, by the end of the holidays every decoration had been consumed and you had nothing to pack up and put away. Brilliant! We have come to fully embrace this idea. Like our paper holidays, yummy Christmas is a season of preparing. The tree is always changing depending on what has been added and what has been consumed. It is relaxed by nature and I no longer feel the perfectionist’s crunch of getting the house decorated just-so, or of finding that magical evening free from various activities.
I have learned some practical lessons along the way. At the beginning of the season the first year, I purchased a gross of candy canes. That’s 144 candy canes, a dozen different flavors of a dozen candy canes. By the end of the first week, there were nine candy canes left. (Hot cocoa flavor was very unpopular.) I began to think I had made a strategic misstep. Six kids with 24-hour access to holiday sweets?! I was clearly insane but also committed to the path I had set out on. I pulled out the food dehydrator and loaded it up with orange, lemon and lime slices.
The next day I strung the dehydrated citrus with ribbons and hung them on the tree. The light shining through the orange slices made them look like stained glass. The effect was absolutely beautiful. The kids still ate them, but at a slower rate and with beneficial vitamin C.
Next, the kids strung popcorn and cranberries, then yogurt-covered pretzels on blue ribbon to make classic garlands.
These added a wonderful color contrast to the tree, as well as a treat for the local wildlife once we put the tree back into the woods after the festivities were over. Cutout sugar cookies were all made with a hole poked into the top so that they could be hung. (I put half the batch into the freezer to stretch out their use. Whenever guests were coming over, fresh cookies were pulled from the freezer and hung
on the tree.) We melted peppermints and other hard candies into cookie cutters in the oven to create candy ornaments, and made stars out of cinnamon sticks. It ended up being our absolute favorite Christmas tree and we have had a lot of quirky, favorite Christmas trees. The kids loved it for obvious reasons and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love to be able to grab a cookie off the tree every time you walk by?
So now our Christmas season is decorated with greenery and berries from our woods and sweet and savory treats from the kitchen. The only thing we have to pack up when it’s over are the lights, the red velvet bows, our nativity scene, and our Lego winter village that we rebuild as a family in the days leading up to Christmas. I love that we have embraced a tradition that works for our preparation-oriented family and has simplified our entire month of December. The season leading up to Christmas has become an ever-changing festive process and my stress level has dropped to the point that I can curl up by the fire, under the glow of the tree, and eat the Quasimodo gingerbread man my son made without worrying about the empty hole it left on the tree. Because tomorrow, there will be more delicious treasures to put in its place.
