Hi Vivity,

Hope you are feeling a bit better today and they fix your knee soon.

That is a good video, might try it myself this Christmas.

One thing I made for my table is

1. Buy a coneshaped foam from Spotlight, either one or two- they come in different sizes. Pick the one you want.

2. A length of Tinsell. You can pin it onto the side at the bottom or glue (I prefer the glue in case children get hold of the pin) and then wrap around the cone to the top. Put a decoration or star on the top.

3.  Get the round (wrapped ones) After Dinner Mints or the little square ones or Chocolates that are wrapped and place them on the tree, either glue or pin and sit them on the table in the centre or have more and place them along the table.

4. Good because they can be used over and over and they make ideal small gifts for friends.

Always great when you get through quickly Viv.  Hope it's good results.

You will like the trees Viv and your After Dinner Mints or Choccies are on hand for the end of the meal.

I always pick my times when I go for my blood tests at the Specialist Centre as the first time I went to their Pathology I had to wait 3 hours.  They get so busy there that they even have a big padded bench(holds about 8 people) outside the door for the overflow.

The 2nd time I went I was so surprised, I opened the door, looked inside, then looked outside, went in and said to the two nurses (who wondered what the hell I was doing), "Are you open for business, there's no one here."  They laughed.  So ever since I've gone around the same time and found the same.

Sorry to hear about your knee, Vivity.

This year I‘m going to make my own Xmas crackers. I got two packs of 6 each of the Urban Crafter kits. The kit contains everything to make the crackers, including snaps, hats and jokes and you can put your own treat inside.

At $12 for two kits to make 12 crackers I thought it was great value, as Urban Crafter makes it simple. They had other really cute Xmas craft kits too. I bought the kits at a craft shop in the shopping mall but they have a website as well. www.urbancrafter.com.au

Talking of crackers, Bookwyrm, I used to make crackers of a different kind for gifts.

Another gift I used to make for the members of the garden club that we started for people with Mental Health problems in our area was to make christmas cakes in the old fashioned Date Roll Tins.

I cooked them, then got some ridged cardboard, my wine boxes were great for this, cut to shape, rolled it around the cakes, it bends and makes a hexagon type shape,  then wrapped them in christmas paper with the ends hanging over and tied bows to make them look like crackers.  I then glued chocolates on for decorations.

Clever people here:-Some very good

ideas

Leafing through a magazine with my cuppa I saw this great and simple idea. Candy cane place card holders arranged in the same shape as a decorative plate holder. Glue two toger at the stem with the curved stem bits facing out to hold the card. Tie at the joined stems with a slender festive ribbon. The glue would make them inedible though, so I was wondering if the effect would be as nice with the clear wrapping on. Again I swear by a craft clue gun. Really secures things firmly. 

Fake cracker decorations, use cardboard tubing cut to size, keep the tubing xmas paper comes in or even the tubes inside loo paper. Wrap in Xmas paper, glue down the paper overlap, secure ends with ribbon etc Lollies etc could be put inside them.

That's a good one too Bookwyrm.

Some of these the children would love to make.  I remember sitting around for hours making streamers out of crepe paper and the loop ones out of the Paper rolls used for throwing off the ships when everyone left for their cruise.

We used to string popcorn for hanging on the tree. Making stars out of carboard & painting them with  gold or silver paint with glitter on. Sticking pipe cleaners in them and hanging them on the tree.

Collecting pine cones for painting too with the glitter on them. No fancy decorations then.

bumping due to spam passport rubbish

Bookwyrm.

About a week before Christmas, my Dad and I used to walk up the old Gully Train line into the bush and spend hours looking for just the right Sheoak Tree. (It was all bush up there then).  Dad would cut it down and we would carry it home and plant it in the bucket.

Then spend hours doing it up with decorations and hanging the streamers and balloons around the house, drinking egg nog and having Christmas Cake.   I still have lots of those decorations left in my decoration box, which I will pass onto my kids. and hopefully they will treasure them too, as some of them are very old.

Robi, it's lovely to spend time with the children making the old decorations.  Knowing the love that was put into them and sharing what we did as children.  It makes for many happy memories in later years, when we look back through our lives.