1. food and drink
2. desserts and baking

Ideas for making
handmade
Christmas presents
By GAIL MILLER
Creativehomemaking.com
How many times when Christmas
comes along do we end up spending a fortune on gifts for friends
and family, which are not the least
bit personal, and regretting it afterwards? These days we often seem to
get caught up in a rush to spend as
much as possible on commercialised products when in fact we could
save money and give much better
presents if only we applied ourselves
to hand making them. Here I bring
you a selection of lovely gifts which
are easy to make and will certainly
not break the bank. The recipients
will love the fact that you have put
your own time and effort into making the gifts and will treasure them.
1) Personalized Recipe Book If
one of your recipients is a vegetarian or has a penchant for curry,
loves anything with tomatoes in or
is a sucker for chocolate, make use
of the fact by making a personalized
recipe book. Start collecting appropriate recipes from books or magazines and purchase a small, inexpensive book to write them in. Copy
them out in your neatest handwriting or use calligraphy if you are talented. If you have artistic flair, you
can also include illustrations! What
a delight this would be to the avid
/LIH
The Epoch Times
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Inexpensive, Handmade,
Original Christmas Gifts
cook or foodlover. 2) Homemade
Stationery You need ordinary envelopes and cheap cartridge paper or
newsprint. Now go through all your
magazines and cut out decorative
pictures or illustrations. Stick them
to the fronts of the envelopes down
the left or across the top. If possible
stick matching borders or motifs on
to the paper too. If you cannot get
them to match, not to worry, just
try to get illustrations with a matching colorway. 3) Chocolate Spoons
Buy a pack of plastic picnic spoons.
These are very cheap and you can get
literally dozens in a pack (enough to
make all your presents!) Melt some
chocolate with a knob of butter in a
dish stood in a pan of boiling water.
When the chocolate is runny dip the
spoons up to where the handle starts
into the chocolate. Place on greaseproof paper to dry then wrap with
cellophane wrap and finish with a
pretty bow. To add flavor you can
add liqueurs, mint, or coffee, orange
or vanilla flavoring to the melted
chocolate mix. 4) Dress Up Box for
Kids
You have to start this present
halfway through the year as you can
add to it as you go along. Obtain a
large cardboard box from your local supermarket and cover it with
pretty wrapping paper. If desired
stick a large label on the front with
the name of the recipient on it. Every
time you go into town, browse round
the charity shops and pick up cheap
hats, scarves, veils, tutus, jewellery,
gloves and small size dresses or
jackets. Kids will go mad for something like this and you can tailor the
clothing to a girl or a boy.
5) Santa’s Sweeties Instead of
buying the kiddies selection boxes
which are just a collection of chocolate bars packed together and
grossly overpriced, why not build
up a store of regular chocolate bars
or packets of sweets throughout the
year. Every time you visit the supermarket add a couple to your basket. Come Christmas time, divide
the sweets between how many children you are catering for, into pretty
bags made out of wrapping paper.
Decorate with ribbons & bows. You
will save a fortune! 6) Calligraphy
Get a book on calligraphy from the
library and make personalized gifts
by writing a poem, or if you are
not that confident, the recipient’s
name on delicately colored paper or
card. Add a pressed flower or two
and mount in a bargain frame. 7)
Personalized Towels A set of cheap
white hand towels can be made
unique by the addition of colored
ribbon or braid sewn approx. 3
inches from each end. Make them
extra special by attaching the initials
of the recipients with some scrap
fabric and Bondaweb. Practical and
customized! 8) Decorated Coffee
Jar Don’t throw out your coffee,
jam or pickle jars, especially if they
are those really beautifully shaped
ones that you get nowadays. All
you need are some sequins or diamantes, which cost literally pennies
from haberdashers. Stick them on at
Fast, Fun and Easy
Christmas Decorating
Ideas
By CAT ROONEY
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By LESLEY DIETSCHY
Creativehomemaking.com
Decorating your home for the holidays does not need
be stressful or expensive. Being one of the most popular
times of the year to decorate, get your family involved
and have fun making your home beautiful for the holiday
season.
Here are fifteen Christmas decorating ideas: 1.
Display your favorite Christmas collections. If you don’t
have a collection, now is a great time to start! My son and
I collect nutcrackers and every year we have a wonderful time selecting just the right one. With a permanent
marker, I write the year on the bottom of the nutcracker.
Not only do we enjoy looking at the nutcrackers during
the holidays, we also enjoying the fond memories of selecting them. 2. Make simple bows out of Christmas ribbons and attach them to your curtains with pins. This is
a very charming look. 3. Decorate your houseplants by
hanging small Christmas ornaments on them. 4. Place
a collection of Christmas books on your coffee table. 5.
Fill a glass bowl with pinecones and Christmas balls and
place on a shelf or table. 6. Wrap your staircase banister with indoor Christmas lights, garland, and bows.
7. To add scent throughout your home, tie 5 or 6 cinnamon sticks together in a bundle using Christmas ribbon.
Make as many bundles as you wish and place around
your home in baskets or bowls. 8. To decorate your table
tie Christmas ribbon to the stems of glasses and/or handles of cutlery. 9. To dress up your chairs tie Christmas
bows around the chair so that the bow is on the back
of the chair. 10. Using a small brush or q-tip, paint the
edges of pinecones with glittery gold craft paint. After
the pinecones dry, place them in a decorative basket. 11.
Add Christmas garland to doorframes, window frames
and mirrors. You can use tape to secure the garland to
the surfaces. 12. Tie bows around doorknobs using festive and colorful Christmas ribbon.
13. Attach garland and Christmas bows to your chandelier. You can also weave strings of red beads in the garland that will dangle down from your chandelier and reflect the light, which will add sparkle.
14. If you live in a milder climate, consider decorating with Amaryllis plants. These beautiful plants come
in red and white, grow tall, and provide a very elegant
random and glue a label to the front
with “coffee,” “spice,” “pasta,” or
anything else which the jar might
be utilized for storing. Tie a silver or
gold bow round the neck of the jar.
9) Hand Decorated Ceramics If you
are artistic, why not purchase a set
of plain white ceramic egg cups, tea
cups or plain glasses which are extremely inexpensive. Using a bottle
of ceramic paint decorate by hand
or stencil or stamp on each one to
make them unique. If possible find
out before hand the color scheme
preferred. 10) Flavoured Cooking
Oil Save empty oil or vinegar bottles throughout the year, or buy the
plain corked ones you can by extremely cheaply at thrift stores. Half
fill with peanut or olive oil. Add
twigs of Rosemary, Thyme, Basil,
Oregano, Parsley etc. If desired also
add some peppercorns for decoration and further flavor and then fill
bottle with more oil. Lid or cork and
add a pretty ribbon to the neck of
the bottle. Not only will these look
great on any recipient’s kitchen shelf
they will also enhance their cooking! 11) Giant Cookies Instead of
making lots of ordinary size biscuits, why not make one or two giant personalized ones? Make a large
batch of biscuit mix using a recipe
from a book, but instead of using
regular size cookie cutters, use an 8
inch cake tin to make the shape or
make a paper template of a heart
can cut the shape round that. Cook
and cool, then decorate with icing
using the recipients name. Wrap
FAVORITE COLLECTIBLES: An assortment of
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display. SANDRA SHIELDS/THE EPOCH TIMES
look.
15. Don’t forget to decorate your fireplace mantle and
hang your Christmas stockings. A few fireplace mantledecorating ideas are adding garland, different styles and
sizes of Santa’s, teddy bears, and candles. You can also
display your favorite nativity scene if you have a large
enough mantle.
Be creative with your fireplace mantle because most
mantels are the focal point during the holiday season.
Another decorating idea for your mantel is to purchase a
bunch of miniature rosemary trees shaped like Christmas
trees, add mini ornaments to them and line them up
across your mantle. These miniature rosemary trees are
readily available during the holidays and come in festive
containers. Christmas decorating is a great time to create traditions and spend quality time with your family.
Get out some snacks and drinks and create a little “decorating party” that your family will love and look forward
to year after year. Happy Holidays!
Lesley Dietschy is a writer, jewelry designer, and the
founder of www.HomeDecorExchange.com
CREATIVE OPTIONS: Red and white quilt; bath salts in a pretty box;
painted ceramic plate and mug; and a Christmas pudding in a decorative
tin. SANDRA SHIELDS/THE EPOCH TIMES
in cellophane. 12) A Set of Fridge
Magnets Decide who you are going to give fridge magnets to earlier
on in the year and take some photos of either the person or their children. Make small squares or circles
out of cardboard and stick the photos onto the card. Finish by attaching small magnets to the backs. 13)
Home Made Honey Bath Oil Mix
together a cup of light baby or olive oil with 1/2 a cup of honey, 1/2 a
cup of liquid soap and a drop each
of your favorite essential oil. Mix
together gently and decant into a
pretty a squirt bottle. 14) Home
Cooked Delights When you make
your traditional Christmas Cake,
double or treble the quantities of ingredients. Make extra cakes which
you can decorate with gold or silver
ribbon round the outside, and give
to relatives. 15) Personalized Photo
Album Photograph albums can be
picked up very cheaply, especially
when sold together in bulk; i.e. three
or five sets cellophaned together.
Cover the albums with pretty fabric or lace and stencil the recipient’s
initials on the front to personalize it.
16) Home Made ‘Throw’ Throws,
which are very much in fashion these
days, are very expensive to buy. A
large remnant, or a number of them
patchworked together and edged
with fringing, makes an excellent
and unique throw. A delightful and
unique present! Merry Christmas!
Gail Miller is a writer and artist.
Her websites include “Stage Your
Home To Sell” and “Cash For
Crafts.”
gails_galleryuk@yahoo.
co.uk.
Pears for the Holidays
Caramelized French
Toast with Vanilla
Pears
Traditionally, pears are
3 Tbsp butter
known as autumn fruit, but
3 large ripe Bartlett pears,
the different varieties of trees
peeled, cored and sliced
actually bear edibles from
1/4 cup brown sugar
August through May. Pears
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
grown in California, such as
Bartlett, Bosc, and D’anjou
Caramelized French Toast
are abundant for the purchas2 eggs
ing in the winter months for
2/3 cup half and half 1 tbsp
holiday dishes and snacks.
sugar
Experts advise that pears are
¼ tsp cinnamon
best gathered while green to
2 tbsp butter
ripen indoors at room tem2 tbsp brown sugar
perature and after ripening be
Vanilla bean ice cream
placed in the refrigerator (to
1 1/4-inch thick slices chalFRUIT CENTERPIECE: Bartlett Pears make a
slow down ripening). If left to
lah
bread (or other sweet egg
beautiful centerpiece until they are ready to
turn yellow on the tree, the fruit
bread)
be eaten. CAT ROONEY/THE EPOCH TIMES
gets gritty in texture. Allow 4
Melt butter in a medium
to 6 days for green firm pears
skillet. Add pears, brown
to ripen at room temperature. The Don’t forget the relishes, composts, sugar and vanilla. Simmer over mein between stages are when the pears salsas, and salads with pears. Even dium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes
are turning green to yellow and los- pizza can have pear bites as a top- until pears are tender. Remove from
ing firmness. Count on them to be ping. Is you mouth watering yet? heat and carefully remove pears
ready to eat in 2 to 3 days. When the Here are recipes from the California from pan with a slotted spoon. Let
pears are golden yellow, they are at Pear Advisory Board to try out for pears stand for a few minutes, then
perfection and the most flavorful, the season.
drain any juices into skillet. Place
ripest, and juiciest.
skillet back over medium-high heat
Once the fruit is ripened it be- Quick Pear Snacks
and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes,
comes a decision of how many indiCut unpeeled fresh Bartlett pears stirring constantly, until sauce is
vidual pears to eat as a fruit snack into wedges, dip one end in honey thickened and caramelized. Remove
and how many are needed to make and dip in chopped toasted nuts, from heat and set aside. To prepare
fresh delicious pear dishes. Some of roasted sunflower seeds, coconut or French toast, beat eggs, half-andus remember eating Mom’s peeled chocolate sprinkles.
half, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon
and baked pears with sugar, wain a large shallow bowl. Add bread
ter, and red hot cinnamon candies. Peppermint Pears
slices and let soak for about 2 minOthers remember Grandmother’s
Cook whole, cored fresh Bartlett utes to absorb mixture. Turn and let
canned pears, pear butter, preserves pears in light syrup, flavored with stand 2 minutes more. Melt butter
or jams. Today’s cookbooks, home fresh mint sprigs or mint extract in a large skillet. Sprinkle 1/2 tablemagazines and even on the internet until tender. Chill. Serve with re- spoon brown sugar on each side of
have recipes to make the next gener- maining syrup spooned over pears. bread. Cook over medium-high heat
ation’s childhood memories of either Garnish with dollop of sour cream for about 2 to 3 minutes per side untraditional or new style revisions of and grated chocolate or chocolate til crisp, being careful not to burn
pear dishes for the holidays.
the sugar. Transfer to plates and
syrup and whipped cream.
There are recipes for pear and
top with pears, caramel sauce and a
cranberry pie with caramel sauce Baked Pears
small scoop of ice cream.
drizzled on top, pies, cobblers,
Prep time: 20 minutes and cook
Fill center of cored fresh Bartlett
cakes, and cookies for those with a pear halves with a mixture of blue time: About 15 minutes. (Makes 4
sweet tooth. Then there are the dif- cheese, cream cheese and chopped servings.) Nutrients Per Serving:
ferent meats (pork tenderloin, ham, nuts. Bake at 350 degrees F until Calories 500; Protein 9 g; Fat 21 g;
lamb, pork chops, duck, chicken, fruit is tender when pierced with a Carbohydrate 70 g; Cholesterol 175
and sea food) cooked with pears. fork.
mg; Fiber 4 g; Sodium 370 mg