When we packed for England we had to take only the essentials, and sadly all of our Christmas decorations didn’t make the cut.  To decorate our tree, the boys and I made salt dough ornaments.  I’d been thinking about making gingerbread cookie ornaments, but I realized that more cookies would likely be eaten than would make it to the tree!

Salt dough is really easy to make and fun to do with children.  There are recipes posted all over the Web, and I pretty much followed this one here.

We measured and mixed.

Notice that each boy has his own bowl - essential for dough making harmony.

We kneaded.

We rolled and cut.

We baked them in the oven and then left them out on the counter to finish drying.

Then, we painted them.

Yes, of course that's a lobster!

While the paint was still wet, we added the all-important glitter.

In Maine, typically we go to a local Christmas tree farm to cut down a lovely and fragrant balsam fir tree.   This year, we went in the opposite direction.  One Saturday, we went for a scenic drive and saw “Festive Trees” laying by the side of the road available for your decorating pleasure if you left a donation to the National Trust of England.  They were perfectly brilliant and scraggly “Charlie Brown Christmas” trees.  Much to Joey’s dismay, we selected the best of the bunch and brought one home.

Back at Tree Shadows, we added lights and our fantastic home made ornaments.

Now we await the arrival of “Father Christmas” on December 24!