Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Craft-Tea Christmas Celebrations

Welcome to the December Carnival of Natural Parenting: Let's Talk Traditions
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama.

Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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We love Christmas in our house. And for me it has to be a home-made Christmas. 

The excitement is two-fold: the craft element of making and decorating, and then the food aspect of stocking up and then feasting on special seasonal treats. I start to get excited about Christmas in September, so by the beginning of December I feel entitled to go all out in celebration. After all I have been waiting so long for it!

And so last year to share my excitement we started a tradition: the “craft tea”. It combines two of my most favourite activities: making things and eating cake!


One afternoon, in the first week of December we invited friends over to help to demolish our gingerbread house. We had only made it a few days earlier but the children could hardly wait to get their hands on all the pretty looking sweeties. I figured we needed a little help in its destruction or the sugar overload would be catastrophic!

Three mums and six children lit the advent wreath and put on carols. We supped on steaming mulled apple juice and lashings of gingerbread. We made popcorn garlands (and ate much of it along the way) and threaded brightly coloured paper chains. We created Christmas cards with glitter and sequins galore and even attempted a festive puppet show. From the moment it started I couldn't wait to do it again next year.


This year we're going for double the fun. One for families, like last year, and a grown up one for our women's group's December meeting. There we will sew decorations for our trees, talking all the while of things close to our hearts, sharing laughter and maybe tears. We will sing carols a cappella by candle light in front of the Christmas tree. And of course drink mulled apple juice, perhaps with a little drop of something stronger to lift the spirits, and eat copious amounts of homemade cake and mince pies.

We wish you a craft-tea Christmas ...”





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Carnival of Natural Parenting -- Hobo Mama and Code Name: MamaVisit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!


Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

12 comments:

  1. Wow, I look forward to getting a spare hour from the kids to look through all those interesting links. Thanks Lucy x

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  3. Hey Amy, as one who was there, you know that this post was written a few days ago, as we have now celebrated our women's group craft-tea and the pictures on this posting are proof! x

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  4. This is so sweet! We are big on creating crafts and baking around here too - I might just have to steal your idea for next year. Thank you for sharing!
    ~Dionna @ Code Name: Mama

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  5. Now that's the kind of Christmas party I could really get into!

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  6. What a fun idea! I love crafting, and doing it in a social setting is even more enjoyable. Thanks for sharing this great tradition!

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  7. Wow, that sounds like so much FUN! I was reading your description of the advent-wreath-lighting, gingerbread-house-destroying, paper-chain making get together, and I just wanted to BE there! :) When our kiddos are older (Abbey is only two and we're expecting again), that is the kind of tradition I would LOVE to start with my family and friends.

    Thanks for writing in the Carnival! I could just SMELL the baked goods and cider while I was reading your post! YUMMY!

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  8. That's such an awesome idea. I wish our house was bigger to be able to accommodate that many people at once. I love the idea of having two, one for families/kids and one just for mamas - what a great way to get some of the kids' Christmas gifts finished and hang out with mama friends!

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  9. What a wonderful idea! Sounds like a lot of fun!

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  10. @ BluebirdMama... not sure how big you're imagining our house to be, it sure doesn't feel very big to our family of 5! We all just squash round the kitchen table and fill the lounge with chairs.

    Thanks all for reading and the comments
    x

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  11. What a fabulous idea! I love homemade, and combining food, friends, and making crafts — seriously, what could be better? I love the pictures of your creations, too!

    We have a gingerbread house that Mikko wants to demolish, and I never even thought of inviting over a wrecking crew to share in the joy. :) That's brilliant.

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