Pioneer Christmas...Pomanders

Pomanders are oranges or apples encased in cloves used during the holidays as gifts or decoration. The girls and I learned that pioneers usually had to make due with apples, because the oranges were considered exotic and found only in the cities. We made ours with oranges, just because that is what we had:)

First we learned that in today's time cloves are expensive, but not so bad if you buy in bulk. So I ordered this bag at Amazon.com. We can make lots of pomanders for years to come with this bag!

The orange skins can be sort of tough to poke the cloves through so we used a sharp end of our meat thermometer or a skewer to poke holes in the skin rind first, then inserted our cloves.You can cover the whole fruit in cloves or just make a design, either way is pretty. The girls, even Little One, enjoyed working on this project.Next you shake the oranges in a bag with cinnamon and ginger. Knock off any excess spice and place somewhere to dry.

You can wrap ribbons around them to use as ornaments or hang in closets. Or you can just fill a pretty jar and use as a centerpiece. Whatever you decide to do everyone will love the smell of Christmas it brings to your house!

And my bloggy friend Amy sent me this link to a neat Christmas story in 1776 (it's only up for today so check it out!). I can't wait to read this tonight to the girls, thanks Amy!!