Keeping the spirit of the season with a simple Christmas tree.
Living on a farm, and being very frugal we have had to learn to live on what the farm provides for us and Christmas time is no different! The price tag of a fresh cut tree from our local tree farm was $65 this year…way out of our budget. So being the resourceful homesteaders that we are we took the issue at hand and made do with what we had.
With the saw in hand, we took a stroll through the woods looking for OUR perfect Christmas tree. To us, it didn’t matter if the limbs were perfectly trimmed or if it had abundant branches. All that mattered to us was that it is a sign of the living Christmas spirit and brought a pleasant smell of pine into our home.
As I pulled out the decoration boxes, I decided that this very special tree only needed a few choice ornaments. A true country Christmas tree was made up of homemade ornaments. I popped some popcorn, strung cranberries and found the old fashion gingerbread ornament recipe I made when the kids were little. A couple sparsely strung white lights and my angel topper was the perfect complement to our very simple Christmas tree.
Simple Christmas Tree Craft for Kids – Cinnamon Applesauce Gingerbread Men
1 cup applesauce – 1 cup cinnamon
Mix applesauce and cinnamon together, adding more cinnamon if dough seems too wet, add more applesauce if the dough is too dry.
Sprinkle countertop with cinnamon, and then roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters, and place ornaments on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Let ornaments dry on baking sheets for several days, or until completely dry. Alternatively, bake in a 200° F oven for 2.5 hours.
I hope you can find some ways to keep your Christmas simple this year!
Thanks for stopping by!
Tracy Lynn
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I love the simplicity.
Love this- we do the same here use what is available on the farm. For us it is Pine too – This year though I changed things up – skipped the tree and sharing why the week of Christmas. Bringing in branches of pine because the smell is fantastic. I love your garland.
Carole
Carole I love that you skipped the tree all together!
Craig told me about the price of the trees and said he was going chopping. He told me about your trees down there and the first thing I said was that s Tracy’s Charlie Brown Christmas tree. You have always loved it and I am so happy that you have a big one now. It looks just like it should….love it.
Simple and beautiful.
Your tree is just beautiful and even made more so by the fact that you got it yourself. We don’t have a tree any more but when we did we always cut one from the side of the road and it always smelt better. The bought trees here are too expensive for us too. Thanks for linking up at Good Morning Mondays and I pray that you and your family will have a blessed Christmas. Blessings from our home to yours.
I got a lot of smiles and giggles about out tree this year…but my pocketbook is singing a song and I was able to give extra at church because we didn’t buy a tree.
Your tree is my favorite kind of tree because it looks like it came from nature……those big bushy trees look like tree farm trees, and while I’ve had many of them I have always wanted one that would make me think it came from the side of a mountain. I love your tree!