Christmas Decor 2013

It is Christmas inside and outside at Four Sisters Farm.  I LOVE the season and I LOVE the reason for the season!

Last Christmas season I had an idea for a faux fireplace with a mantle to hang our stockings from...I even went so far as to frame out a center and purchase some wood but then ran out of time.  I got back to it this year and Pop helped me...here is what we came up with.  It comes apart so we can store it easily for next year.

It looks even better with all the stockings hung! There are names embroidered on them but since we don't use real names on the blog, I know you understand.

As I decorate, I think about what fun we will have when we are gathered together...cousins playing...snuggling babies...yummy food and treats...stories shared...grown-up conversations shared by our kids after the children are settled into bed...the love and grace that we share for and with each other holds it all together in a small space with a lot of noise.  It's good stuff.  We will share some pictures from our time together in a few days so stay tuned!

Before decorating

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care (even if it is pretend).  

An old nativity scene that my Mom no longer needed and passed along to me
 is front and center with a gift tag that says, "To: Mankind  Love, God". 

Salt dough "cookies" made by our Superheroes are festive on a red plate;
and a clever cardboard "tree" by Bubba makes a rustic statement all its own.

A book about Jesus' birth recorded by my Dad and Mom is handy to pull down and "read" to the kids.

Garland, lights, and ribbon dress up the front door!

Crates I made hold lights, greenery, pine cones, and such.

Those cinnamon pine cones smell SO good!

A giant wreath is a must on the front porch.

Here we are all lighted up...it is all on a timer.
Driving up to a lighted house makes me really happy.

Hedge Apple Harvest

We had a bumper crop of hedge apples this year!  The ONE hedge tree in our yard produced somewhere in the vicinity of 3,000 hedge apples!  Hooray!  We have proven that we can grow something at Four Sisters Farm that has little use and causes much annoyance!  The grandkids couldn't even walk across that part of the yard without falling down!

Oh well.  I am so very thankful for a pickup stick my dad gave me.  It saved my back and my hands.  And I had some time to think about possible fall games for families involving this yearly falling of the hedge apples...hedge apple crochet, hedge apple relays, contests for picking up the most in an allotted time, hedge apple throwing contests, and much more!

As I was picking up all those pesky, gooey, near-soft-ball-size fruits, it did get me to thinking...

What in the world did God make these things for anyway???

According to Hedgeapple.com, they are not poisonous but have been known to choke livestock to death. I would think this is not the best thing about hedge apples; but then again...I'm still pondering!  If I understand correctly, the Osage Indians used to make sturdy bows that were very valuable back in the day...hence another name for this tree: "Osage Orange."  The Osage Orange is a cousin to the mulberry tree; which ironically also grows well here at Four Sisters Farm!  Another common name for the tree is "bodark" from a french word (d'arc) that means "bow wood."  

Another goodie I gleaned from my research is that the tree produces a bright yellow dye that can be extracted from the wood...maybe someone should replace the FDA approved yellow food dyes with it!

At least the wood is hard, long-lasting, and burns hotter than any other wood...that's what we do with it...burn it!  But really, the wood is still valued today...Pop has a nephew who makes a living harvesting the trees and installing fence rows and I've read about folks who make instruments from hedge wood.

Hmmm...maybe I should be planting these hideous balls and growing a hedge tree plantation??  I can't see Pop going for that but I'll ask him.  Stay tuned.  Hee hee.

In the meantime, there are still some hedge apples holding onto the tree...I'll get them all yet!