This year we decided to do an old fashioned homemade Christmas — a pioneer-style inspired Christmas complete with homemade gifts and simple good food. As I stood by the tree, filled with our homemade decorations, I gazed out the window and admired the beautiful sunset filled with colors of oranges, yellows and pinks peering through the trees and snow covered ground. I took it all in and enjoyed the simpleness of it all. The delicious meal cooking in the oven filled the air, the simple homemade vanilla-scented beeswax candles were burning with the beautiful flickers of light, my girls were laughing and having fun decorating homemade gingerbread houses with an assortment of yummy candy and chocolates, and the sounds of Christmas music filled our home while I sipped on a cinnamon and nutmeg spiced homemade eggnog, all while standing in our living room admiring the sunset and taking it all in. This is what Christmas was about — being with family, celebrating our Lord, being present in the moment and savoring the simplicity of a homemade Christmas. I understood what the pioneers must have felt — happiness with what we were blessed with no matter how big or how small.
But it was not always like this. Since homeschooling, I have spent countless hours through the years, reading about pioneer times and learning how they homesteaded like how they gardened and grew crops to feed their families and earn some money, their cooking methods, their preservation methods, how they hunted and fished and how they handled that afterwards, their day-to-day life, their struggles, their celebrations and how these new settlers made the most with what they had. And that is when I realized we were missing something in the hustle and bustle of life — rushing here, buying this, becoming frustrated with crowds, rushing there, buying that, in a frenzy to wrap gifts beautifully with shiny paper and cute Christmas images and perfect corners, struggling to find that perfect gift, our Christmas mood diminished by angry crowds and icy roads and at the end of the day, stressed out and a little annoyed with it all. We slipped into the commercialized holiday season and did not even realize it. We lost the true meaning of it all in this modern day. I took a step back and we discussed store-bought gifts versus homemade gifts and we all came to the conclusion that no matter how thoughtful a store-bought gift may be, it is just not the same as a heartfelt, homemade gift.
An old fashioned Christmas was exactly what we needed to put us in the holiday mood. We planned and bought materials needed to make our gifts for one another. Even with all the fabric we had purchased, yarn and goodies we bought to make everything, it was still far more budget friendly and everyone was excited to create their gifts and even more excited to hand them out Christmas morning! My daughter ‘H’ sewed us all toques/hats and scarves from fun winter themed flannel and fireside fabric to keep our heads extra warm on those bitterly cold days. My daughter ‘L’ crocheted us fun festive holiday critters and stuffed them to make cute stuffies like a reindeer and snowman. I made cookie-in-a-jar and blondies-in-a-jar which turned out wonderfully and are most delicious. We stuffed our gifts into homemade “Santa Bags” which completed our homemade Christmas.
Homemade gingerbread houses just cannot be beat. They taste delicious, fill the air with the most wonderful scent of warm gingerbread and are fun to create! We created our own pattern this year which turned out excellent, much to my surprise! We often use gingerbread cookie cutters to get the shape of our houses just right, but decided cutting out our own pattern would be so much more fun, and a little more old fashioned! For the royal icing, I use meringue powder, vanilla, water and egg whites to get a creamy icing that holds the houses together well and tastes so yummy! We baked the gingerbread Christmas Eve and let the gingerbread dry overnight. We then assembled the houses this morning (Christmas morning) and let them dry for a few hours while we opened gifts, and had some Christmas fun! We decorated them throughout the day and finished them after our Christmas dinner. We have been making gingerbread houses for 10 years now and it is a tradition that we just cannot pass up at Christmas! A blog post will be coming for 2021, including our free gingerbread house pattern, recipe for the most delicious gingerbread and of course the most simple and tasty royal icing!
Our scrumptious meal was utterly delicious! We had ham with glaze, natchinka (cornmeal casserole), homemade cabbage rolls, scalloped potatoes and peas and carrots — it was a fantastic meal. Recipes will be shared in the upcoming year! Make our yummy cabbage roll recipe here: https://www.ourcityhomestead.com/homemade-cabbage-rolls/
Our homemade gifts were loved by each of us because we took a lot of time and effort, and made them by hand which really was special. The Santa Bag is something we will enjoy for years to come and has been personalized for each of us. We chose colors we like, the chalked pattern on the bag that we preferred and holiday fabric patterns we like! We even chose whether we wanted our bags to close with snaps, cinch-sack style or ribbon! Not only is each bag personalized for us, but it cuts down (or in our case, eliminates) all that wrapping paper! A few of the many reasons to use a “Santa Bag.” A blog post on how we created these cute reusable bags will be coming in 2021! (we were so busy creating crafts, goodies and recipes that it seems we ran out of time to share it here with you for 2020!!)
The scarf was super simple to make. For the scarf, all you need is flannel in your favorite pattern 73″ long and 10″ wide. Place “good” side to good side and sew along the end and sides and part of the other end, flip and then sew closed. If you would like tassels, then cut the end into tassels, about 3 to 4″ long and sew right above to stop any further fraying. Turn the edges in and sew along, backstitching to prevent any seams from popping open. You can also place good side to good side, sew across the bottom and top, 3 to 4″ in (so tassels can be cut), and then sew along side, leaving a space to flip the scarf. Turn edge in and sew the opening closed. Cut tassels with pinking shears to complete. There are a few ways you can sew this versatile scarf!! It is super simple to complete, and kids will love creating them! You can also sew the ends together for an infinity scarf if you like and use a batik fabric for a stylish scarf. In no time, you can have a scarf sewn for everyone! A more detailed blog post will be coming in winter 2021!
Pioneers decorated their homes with simple items like holly berries, pine boughs and cones, strings of popcorn and berries, cookie ornaments and even paper or corn husk ornaments. We decorated our home with homemade wood signs that we painted and decorated, along with fragrant beeswax candles, garland as well as making all of our ornaments on our tree which has become a fun yearly tradition! You can find a few of the ornaments we created here: https://www.ourcityhomestead.com/homemade-christmas-tree-ornaments
A pioneer Christmas may have included such handmade gifts as a carved shelf, homemade mixing spoons, knitted items like mittens or stockings, pillows, embroidered handkerchiefs, carefully handmade rag dolls, homemade wooden blocks or trucks or games of the sort, peppermint candy, a penny, a tin cup, clove-studded fruit and flannel booklets to hold needles. It was a humble Christmas often with a candy and one or two small gifts that would be useful and though small, they would mean so much.
“In each stocking there was a pair of bright red mittens, and there was a long, flat stick of red-and-white-striped peppermint candy, all beautifully notched along each side. They were all so happy they could hardly speak at first. They just looked with shining eyes at those lovely Christmas presents.”
– Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1932
After gifts were exchanged, breakfast would be had and chores would be done. Small children would have a chance to play while dinner was prepared. There would be an assortment of food like salt rising bread or sourdough, beans with pork, fresh game meat or fish, preserved fruits and vegetables, plum pudding which aged in the pot the week leading up to Christmas, pies made from as assortment of dried fruit like apples or raisins, vinegar pie (that is similar in flavor to lemon) and other homemade treats. They’d sing songs, play the fiddle, dance and attend church if it was nearby. Christmas was simple and spent with family. The focus was delicious food and spending time with each other — similar to our Christmas today — which sounds wonderful and something we were inspired by to create our own version of this Christmas season.
Christmas can be as extravagant as you like or as simple as you choose — all that truly matters is who you spend it with — family and friends, enjoying delicious food, laughter and the company of others!
I have learned to relish in the scents of holiday baking… to admire winter’s beauty… to enjoy evening family walks with delicious hot apple cider or hot cocoa looking at the beautiful Christmas lights in the community… to listen to festive music and sing along without a care… to have fun baking up holiday treats and eating it too… to share thoughtful gifts with others… to make a gift with our hands and watch it go from nothing like a ball of yarn or a metre of fabric or a bunch of ingredients into something wonderful like a stuffy or scarf or something yummy-in-a-jar —- it is moments like this that will be treasured memories. I have learned this holiday season to take a moment and pause… to step back and not stress out but rather enjoy every moment of it. Creating an old fashioned homemade Christmas has helped me accomplish this.
“When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things – not the great occasions – give off the greatest glow of happiness.”
– Bob Hope
From us all here at Our City Homestead, we wish you the merriest cheer of Christmas!
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours