Crimson and Holly - Ragtag Garland

I stumbled across this really cute idea off this blog site that I fell in love with ~ the site and the project idea.

My version of the project is here:

What you need for this is:

a strand of white lights (either 50 or 100 depending on the length you want)
strips of fabric, ribbon and tulle in your selected colors


about 4 hours for assembling

What I did for mine was to take old clothing I bought at a Salvation Army and cut into strips.  The ribbon was the most expensive item, aside from the lights.

Each strip should be about 3 - 5 inches.  I did a variety of lengths and widths which made it look lots fuller, more 3D.

Crimson and Holly - Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Yummy..........I love love love making cookies.  And even though I am not feeling really well, I just had to spend the first day of my girls' Christmas vacation doing something to make memories.  It gets harder and harder to pin them down for "family time".  Whitney protested a bit but finally came and helped me drop the spoonfuls of dough onto the sheets.  She ended up taking over the baking portion

The results were amazing.

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Recipe courtesy of Beth Setrakian

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamon
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients. Add to butter mixture and stir until well blended. Add dried cranberries. Drop by teaspoonful onto parchment covered baking sheet. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool.

Crimson and Holly

In my kitchen windowsill is a Glade candle . . spruce it up / apple cinnamon...that fills my kitchen with the most amazing smells of the season.  The spruce aroma is one I only can imagine never having been around a spruce tree.  I normally buy a spruce scent to spray on my artificial tree each year.  These scents are, however, exactly what I have in mind for Crimson and Holly.  Think of the deepest Christmas red velvet and a dark hunter green, something actually regal and expensive. After spending about twenty minutes searching the web for a picture to reflect the vision I have in my mind, I have to confess, I could not find one:  crushed red velvet with satin fringe, green glass, gold, holly leaves, poinsettias, a fireplace and deep rich wood.  The tree needs to have white lights, but only sparsely lit with green and crimson glass ornaments.  I always hear "red, gold and green" playing in a violin concerto.