A True Pioneer Christmas Trip

The birth of the whole Pioneer Christmas idea was actually conceived during a summer trip we took to Lubbock's Ranching Heritage Museum. It is a really neat place with houses and buildings outside that represent many of the pioneers lifestyles through the years here in the Texas panhandle. One weekend in December they have an old-fashioned Christmas, in which you walk along luminary lighted paths and take a glance back in time. As you peak in the windows of the historic homes you get a glimpse of what Christmas was like many years ago.We walked past the window of a little dog-trot cabin and found this family painting Christmas ornaments.

Or this pioneer woman who was stringing popcorn garland...which reminds me we haven't done this yet!

Here's the one-room school house where the kids were singing Jingle Bells.

This sweet couple were dancing away at their Christmas party. WB pointed out to the girls this was music pre-Ipod download:)

These cowboys were very busy in their little one room cabin.

This is the grand Victorian house. Check out that sunset, it was amazing. I'll post more pics of it tomorrow for my Memorable Moments Monday!!

We ended at the 6666 barn for some hot cider and hot cocoa. School choirs were inside singing and the girls wrote letters to Santa.Then they delivered them to the local post office.And we couldn't leave without seeing Santa. Little One was so mesmerized by him that she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

It was so much fun and I'm so glad we were able to go!

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!!

Frugal Friday...Bandanna Apron

Soph modeling her bandanna apron as she was about to run out the door for school!

Like I mentioned last week we are having a "Pioneer" Christmas this year, so to continue my frugal gift making ideas I want to share this apron with you. Soph went to a Brownie activity a few weeks ago and the girls made aprons out of bandannas. They all turned out really cute and they were easy to put together. This would make a cute gift for children, but also the adults were wearing them. It may not cover as much area, but it still looked sweet on the grown-ups!

The cost of this gift is just a few dollars. All you need is a bandanna ( I saw several cute Christmas ones at WalMart the other day), buttons, ribbon and fabric scraps.

The only sewing that needs to be done on the machine is to fold back the corner on one side a couple of inches. You could even do this by hand if you wanted to.

Next we tacked on ( a couple of holding stitches) either ribbon or some lengths of fabric for the neck ties and waist ties. We then sewed buttons on each tie to help hold it in place an for a little decoration.

The girls each decorated their aprons however they liked. We glued on ric rac or you could sew it. Soph used a fabric pen to write I love .... all down the front of her apron. Some girls traced their hands or glued fabric flowers around their apron. I got tickled watching the girls come up with their own designs.

This was a fun, easy project that fits right in with our Pioneer Christmas theme! Next Friday I'll share another fun, easy project that involves using old socks and dying:)

Works For Me Wednesday...Our Pioneer Christmas

I'm so excited about this Christmas because we've decided to follow a theme, a Pioneer Christmas. I'm not sure what brought this about. Maybe our move to the "country" or maybe my kids desire to learn about what people did long ago or maybe just a combination of things. But I will tell you it has brought new excitement to the holiday season here at Cotton-Top Hills. We've gotten a jump on things, since we've learned the pioneers had to plan months in advance for the holidays.

The ideas are endless and over the next several weeks I'll be posting about our projects, which include homemade gifts and decorations. Here is a picture of some of the books that have gotten us started:

My library didn't have these so I ordered them new and used from Amazon. The girls and I are enjoying going through each book. It has some great ideas and has also gotten the girls thinking about some of their own. Like wouldn't the pioneers made use of all these yuccas we have growing wild around here...how about some yucca soap. It's just a joy to watch them get excited and work together on things.

Also, we are being frugal. The pioneers didn't have much, but they scrapped together what they did have and made it a beautiful holiday. We're learning to appreciate that we don't have to have that flat screen TV or Wii to make our Christmas memorable. The pioneers encountered some very difficult times, but families pulled together and made the best of it. It's a wonderful Christmas spirit to have.

Anyway, this Pioneer Christmas is helping my family to really focus on the true meaning of Christmas this year. Check back on Friday for our first Frugal Pioneer Decorating Idea, it involves hammers and ice!!

For more WFMW ideas check at Shannon's blog.