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Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

Balsamic Apple Topping

Posted in Holidays, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on November 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Apples sauteed in a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey. Yum! I love it when a recipe only has a few ingredients, yet delivers on flavor! Searching for something interesting and delicious to put over the pork tenderloin I had just roasted, I found this clipped recipe in one of my stacks. Apples and pork – always a great combination! Having all the ingredients on hand, I immediately started peeling and chopping. In under ten minutes, I had a delicious, sweet and tart topping for my roast pork. And don’t even think about leaving out the basil – it adds another dimension of flavor to the topping! This recipe would dress up any meal. Enjoy!

Balsamic Apple Topping

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 pippin or Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
4 servings of meat of your choice: grilled or baked salmon or any roasted poultry or pork.

Directions:
1. In a small nonstick skillet heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. When oil is hot, add apples and cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes or until softened.
3. Stir in vinegar and honey and cook for a minute or two longer.
4. Spoon topping over meat and sprinkle with sliced basil.

Serves 4.

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Of Halloween Past

Posted in About me, Aging, Holidays, Kids, Parenting, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

“What happened to your house?” the little boy said as he quietly stood at my front door. I eyed him with a puzzled look and replied, “What do you mean?” But just as soon as I said those words, it dawned on me – I knew exactly what he meant. I squatted down to his level and said apologetically, “I’m so sorry. My boys grew up.” This little boy, dressed up as a devil, had come trick-or-treating at my home with the anticipation of finding my traditionally scary-looking house, but instead he found only a few fake spider webs strewn across some bushes. As I closed the door behind him, I felt the weight of his question and thought about what had happened to my house.

Halloween was always a fun time around our home. “What should I be for Halloween, Mommy?” was a question I anticipated every October 15th. Costumes were either purchased at a store or made by me – sometimes in advance, but most often at the last minute. And selecting which treats to pass out was always a dilemma. Being a dental hygienist, I didn’t like to pass out sugary sweets, but every year I relented when my kids pleaded that it wasn’t cool to pass out toothbrushes or dental floss. Other Halloween memories involved delivering secret “BOO” treats to neighbors. We would do reconnaissance by driving around the neighborhood to see which family did not have a BOO sign on their front door and later when it was dark, we’d sneak off and place a bag of treats on the doorstep, ring the doorbell, and then run like the dickens!

The most fun Halloween memories, though, are always centered around decorating the house. After my children were born, I started collecting little whimsical pieces of decorations, but as the children grew older they wanted to be more involved in the decorating. My sons, in particular, had their own ideas about how to transform our house for Halloween. With their help our Halloween decorations got more elaborate and progressively creepier. One year a skeleton hung from an oak tree in front of our house, but the next year bloody-looking, fake body parts joined it. Eventually, shrieks, screams, and bone-chilling music drifted out of a window and floated down the driveway. Playing the eerie music on our karaoke machine led to an unusual use of it – the boys discovered that by using the karaoke’s microphone, they could scream into it and scare unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. One son would man the microphone while the other peeked out the front window. If they knew the trick-or-treater’s name, they would personalize their ghostly greeting like this, “KYLE!!! . . . What are you doing heeeere? . . . I wouldn’t come any clooooser if I were yooouu . . . !” Add some swirling fog and orange-colored spotlights to the mix and our house evolved into one scary destination.

Then it happened. First one son went away to college and then the second one followed him. Although my daughter was still home, she was not into the gore of Halloween or into decorating the house. I enjoyed the “feminine” side of Halloween as my daughter grew up, but it just wasn’t the same without the boys’ antics.

Since the kids left, Halloween has always stirred up feelings of empty nesting in me; I miss my kids most around this time of the year. But with feelings of empty nesting come feelings of renewal and revival. I look forward now to going over to my son’s new home to see what gross and eerie scenes he’ll create with a bin of slightly used body parts and the old karaoke and fog machines of his youth! So to all the kids in his new neighborhood . . . BEWARE!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (7/2/10)

Posted in Gardening, Gift Ideas, Health, Holidays, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Pets, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »


Fourth of July weekend usually means patriotism, fireworks, barbecues, picnics, and cooling down in some form of water. No matter what you do for your holiday weekend, please take necessary precautions and be safe! Wear sunscreen and hats, store picnic food at safe temperatures, and if you are going to a lake, river, or beach don’t forget to pack life vests! My little dog wears his life vest when he swims in my pool. He’s had two surgeries to repair torn ACLs, so he begrudgingly dog paddles to rehabilitate his knees and stave off arthritis.

#1 -Independence Day Trivia
Here’s a sampling of Fourth of July trivia questions from Starpress.com and a few I threw in to keep you are on your toes:

Q: July 4 celebrates the passage of what important document?
A: Declaration of Independence

Q: What is the name of the group that passed the Declaration of Independence and when?
A: Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

Q: Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
A: Thomas Jefferson was the primary writer. Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingstone and John Adams also were members of the committee charged with writing the Declaration of Independence and revisions.

Q: By what title did the Continental Congress call the Declaration of Independence?
A: The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.

Q: How many people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776?
A: Two

Q: How many signatures are on the Declaration of Independence?
A: 56

Q: The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution are familiarly known as?
A: The Bill of Rights

Q: What do the colors on the flag stand for?
A: There is no record stating why red, white, and blue where chosen for the flag.

Q: The dollar amount of all U.S. fireworks imported?
A: $211 million

Q: Estimated number of Fourth of July cookouts?
A: 150 million

#2 – Picnic Safety Tips
If you’re planning a picnic this Fourth of July, take care that you’re following these safety tips as provided in an article by whatscookinginamerica.net. Click on the link to read the entire article, otherwise here’s a synopsis:

A. As always, wash hands and work areas before preparing food.

B. Cook foods in plenty of time to thoroughly chill them in shallow containers in the refrigerator.

C. Have enough coolers with ice or frozen gel packs and pack foods right from the refrigerator into the coolers.

D. Don’t put the cooler in the car trunk; Carry it inside an air-conditioned car. At picnics, keep the cooler in the shade and keep the lid closed. Replenish the ice if it melts.

E. Use a separate cooler for drinks so the one containing the food won’t constantly be opened and closed.

F. Find out if there’s a source of safe drinking water at your destination. If not, bring water for preparation and cleaning; or pack clean, wet, disposable cloths or moist towelettes and paper towels for cleaning hands and surfaces. Cross-contamination during preparation, grilling, and serving food is a prime cause of food borne illness.

G. Pack raw meats, poultry, or seafood on the bottom of the cooler.

H. If you plan on getting takeout foods such as fried chicken, eat them within an hour of pick up.

I. Do not partially grill extra meat or poultry to use later.

J. Don’t put the cooked items on the same platter which held the raw meat.

K. Two Hour Rule. Don’t leave perishable food un-refrigerated for more than two hours.

L. Discard leftovers.

#3 – Patriotic Flower Pots
Buy red, white, or blue flower pots and plant them with red geraniums, blue salvia, and white petunias or any other combination of red, white, and blue summer annuals. Purchase some patriotic-colored, wide, wired ribbon at your local crafts store. Plant the flowers, tie the ribbon in a bow at the front of the pot, and place pots wherever you need a pop of patriotic color that will last all summer long.

#4 – Patriotic Drink
The secret to creating a red, white, and blue multilayered drink is finding beverages with different sugar contents, so says an article in Disney Family Fun. Beverages with more sugar, like fruit juices, are denser and are poured first. The second layer the article suggests would be something like an athletic beverage and the top layer, which would have the least amount of sugar, would be a diet drink. The following recipe from the article is for a children’s patriotic drink, but think of all the possibilities for adult drinks!

Ingredients:
Ice cubes
Cranberry juice
Wild Berry flavor Gatorade Fierce
Diet 7-Up

Instructions:
1. Fill a clear glass with ice cubes. Pour the drink with the most sugar (check the nutrition label) into the glass. For our red, white, and blue recipe, start with the cranberry juice.
2. Very slowly add a beverage that contains less sugar — in this case, Wild Berry flavor Gatorade Fierce. Be careful to pour it onto an ice cube — not directly into the other drink — to keep them from mixing.
3. Use the same technique to add a layer of Diet 7-Up.

#5 – Freedom
Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend!

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A Tisket, A Tasket

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Holidays, tagged , , , , , on April 14, 2010| 2 Comments »

The old song goes, “A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket . . .” except in my case the baskets were pearlized baby blue. For Easter dinner I wanted to make something special for each of my guests, so I searched the internet and found a project on AllFreeCrafts.com. I made cute little paper baskets, filled them with my favorite chocolate Cadbury Mini Eggs, and placed one basket at each place setting on the dining table. Because they are easy to make, I thought they could make sweet flower-filled Mother’s Day Brunch favors as well.

Supplies you will need to make these baskets:

*Stiff paper – construction paper or card stock
*Pencil,  embossing tool, or a small point knitting needle
*Ruler
*Scissors
*Hole Punch
*Brad fasteners
*Candy or tiny flowers (in which case you’ll need plastic condiment cups, too)

Instructions:

To make a template, measure and draw a 4-1/2″ square on stiff paper. Divide the square into nine equal squares with your pencil and ruler. Round off each corner with your scissors. Measure and cut out a handle template that is 6″ long by 5/8″ wide. Using your ruler as a straight edge, score the lines that form your nine-square grid. To do this place your ruler on a vertical line and run the embossing tool down the line. Repeat with the remaining vertical line and the two horizontal lines. Now fold the template along these lines.

Place your template on top of your paper and trace around it with a pencil or an embossing tool. I favor the embossing tool because it does not leave any marks that have to be erased later. It only leaves indentations. If you have a fine point knitting needle, this could be used as well. Repeat the procedure for the handle.

Do not remove the template. To score your basket so it can be folded, carefully place your ruler on top of your template and paper (make sure template and paper are lined up according to your tracing) along one of the vertical lines. Fold back the template along the rulers edge, and run the embossing tool down the edge. Repeat procedure on the remaining vertical line and two horizontal lines.

Cut the rounded-square and the handle out. Cut two slits along the center top and center bottom squares.To form one side of a basket, fold two round edges over a center square until they overlap. Punch with a tiny hole punch or fat needle through the three layers. Also punch a hole into each end of the handle making sure your you’ve left at least 1/4″ of paper at the end.

Again fold two round edges over the center square, lining up the holes. Now insert one end of the handle in between the center square and the overlapping rounded ends. Line up the holes and stick a brad in securely. If you do not have mini brads, you could use a staple and then cover the staple with a sticker. Repeat the procedure for the other side of the basket and handle.

Either fill the completed basket with candy or put a disposable plastic condiment cup in the basket. Fill the cup with a little bit of water and arrange some tiny flower stems in it.

Little baskets of flowers would also be very pretty additions to a bridal shower table-scape. Vary the paper or even enlarge the template to make larger baskets. Only your imagination limits you as to how these little baskets can be used!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (2/12/10)

Posted in Holidays, inspiration, Recipes, tagged , , , , , on February 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

With Chinese New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day creating a triple-treat long weekend for us, what’s not to celebrate? Having posted about the first two holidays, I feel it would be remiss of me not to write a post about President’s Day. Although President’s Day is specifically a celebration of George Washington’s birthday, I’d like to pay homage to some of our other American Presidents as well.

#1 – Why I Would Have Voted for George Washington
Any man who says this about his mother gets my vote: “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”

#2 – Presidential-related Biographical Novels
I’ve always enjoyed reading historical fiction and Irving Stone’s novels are among some of my favorites:

LOVE IS ETERNAL: A Novel of Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln

THOSE WHO LOVE: A Biographical Novel of Abigail and John Adams

THE PRESIDENT’S LADY: A Novel about Rachel and Andrew Jackson

#3 – Presidential Trivia Quiz
Courtesy of Apples4theteacher.com:

1. Who was the only bachelor president?
a. James Buchanan
b. James Monroe
c. Andrew Johnson
d. James Polk

2. Who was the heaviest president?
a. Grover Cleveland
b. Ulysses S. Grant
c. James Madison
d. William Taft

3. Who was the oldest elected president?
a. George Washington
b. Thomas Jefferson
c. Ronald Reagan
d. Woodrow Wilson

4. Which president was NOT born or did NOT die on the 4th of July?
a. John Adams
b. Calvin Coolidge
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. Benjamin Harrison

5. Which president was related by either blood or marriage to eleven other presidents?
a. John Quincy Adams
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
c. Benjamin Harrison
d. John Kennedy

6. Which president was the youngest person to become president?
a. John F. Kennedy
b. Franklin Pierce
c. Theodore Roosevelt
d. William Clinton

7. Which president did not die in office?
a. Millard Fillmore
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
c. Warren Harding
d. Zachary Taylor

8. Which president’s face is not part of Mt. Rushmore?
a. Thomas Jefferson
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
c. George Washington
d. Theodore Roosevelt

Answers:
1. James Buchanan was the only bachelor president. He was the 15th president.

2. The heaviest president was William Taft, who weighed 300-340 pounds. He was the 27th president.

3. Ronald Reagan was the oldest elected president at age 69. He was the 40th president.

4. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day – July 4, 1826. Calvin Coolidge was BORN on July 4, 1872. Benjamin Harrison died on March 13, 1901. He was the 23rd president.

5. John Quincy Adams was the son of the 2nd president, John Adams. Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of the 9th president, William Harrison. Franklin D. Roosevelt was related by either blood or marriage to eleven other presidents: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren, and George Washington. He was the 32nd president.

6. The youngest person to become president was Theodore Roosevelt, who, as vice-president, took over the office when William McKinley was assassinated. Roosevelt was 42 years of age. He was the 26th president. Kennedy was the youngest ELECTED president, but not the youngest to become president.

7. Millard Fillmore served from 1850-1854. He died in 1874. He was the 13th president.

8. Mt. Rushmore honors 4 past presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president.

#4 – A Presidential Soup Recipe
Here’s a recipe for Laura Bush’s Bake Potato Soup, courtesy of Presidential Recipes:
6 cups left over mashed potatoes
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 lb. of bacon, diced, cooked and drained well
1 large red pepper, diced
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup chives, minced
4 tbsp. sour cream approximately
2-3 cups of whipping cream, half and half or milk
Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, saute onions and red pepper over medium heat in 2 tablespoons butter until onions are clear. Add bacon, potatoes and whipping cream to desired consistency.

Skim milk or chicken stock may be used to reduce calories. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a garnish of a dollop of sour cream, grated cheese and chives.

#5 – Presidential Quotes
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” Thomas Jefferson

“Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
John F. Kennedy

Enjoy your long weekend!

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Equal Time For Fortune Cookies

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Holidays, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , on February 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

My last post was all about Valentine’s cookies, but this coming Sunday, February the 14th, is not only Valentine’s Day, it’s also the first day of the Chinese new year 4707. According to the L.A. Times, “This is a rare convergence — it’s only the third time since 1900 – and it won’t happen again until after 2030. Added to that, it’s the year of the Tiger, which traditionally symbolizes great passion.”

So why not celebrate both passion-filled holidays at the same time? Here are a few ideas for ways to incorporate these two distinct holidays into your upcoming holiday meal planning and table decorating:

1. Using Paula Deen’s recipe make your own fortune cookies and fill them with romantic fortunes. Even better, whether homemade or store bought, dip the ends of fortune cookies into melted chocolate, then dip into toppings of your choice such as Valentine-colored sprinkles, chopped nuts, coconut shavings, or finely chopped white chocolate. Let cool. Serve for dessert.

2. Decorate Chinese take out boxes with stickers or use rubber stamps and emboss the boxes. Place one at each place setting and serve fresh salad or delicious pasta inside of them. Stick in a pair of chopsticks and you’re good to go!

3. Make Chinese fortune cookies out of felt a la Martha Stewart and tuck Hershey Kisses and personalized fortunes into them. Scatter these on the dining table, place them in a bowl, or use them as party favors.

4. Use rice in your candlescapes by arranging candle pillars on a platter and pour and smooth white rice around them.

5. Set your table with napkins folded to resemble fortune cookies.

Materials Needed:
Solid-colored light brown or tan-colored cloth napkins
Paper strips and pens or computer printed fortunes

How to Fold Fortune Cookie Napkins:
A. Place napkin completely flat, right side down on an even surface.

B. Bring lower edge up about one third of the napkin height.

C. Fold down the top of the already folded napkin so that the top third of the napkin covers the bottom third. You should have a rectangle at this point.

D. Hold your thumb at the center top of the rectangle and fold the right half under itself and pull down so it extends about 3 inches below the edge of the rectangle.

E. Repeat a mirror image fold with the left half.

F. Fold up each of the two corners of the left tail so that they meet at the base of the large triangle and form a new triangle with the point at the bottom. Repeat with the right tail.

G. Fold the left tail up so that it touches the top point of the large triangle and creates a rectangle.

H. Fold the rectangle in half to form your fortune cookie. Turn it over so that the slit side is up. Place “giant” paper fortunes in them.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

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Sweet Valentines: Making Shortbread Cookies for Valentine’s Day

Posted in Creativity, Gift Ideas, Holidays, In The Kitchen, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

These are my signature Valentine’s Day cookies, but making them tends to be a love-hate type of situation for me. I love that decorating theses cookies brings out my inner Picasso, but because they require so much time and patience, I hate making them. I say “hate” lightly, though. I admit working with the icing can be challenging, but it is also therapeutic. Even though the cookies in the photo are all of the same design, I enjoy experimenting with the flow of the icing and creating new designs. No two are ever exactly the same and after sitting at my kitchen table for hours straight on end, they are always a labor of love.

This type of project is always more fun when shared with others. What about this? Why not host a Valentine’s Day cookie-decorating party for your friends? If you don’t feel like baking, order undecorated sugar cookies from your local bakery or grocery store’s bakery. The fun will be in the decorating and the time spent with friends.

Shortbread Valentine’s Day Cookies:
(Original recipe is from Martha Stewart)

1-1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
¾ C sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C cornstarch
Icing recipe below

Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the vanilla.

Sift together the flour and cornstarch and then stir this into the creamed mixture. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and form the dough into a round disc. Wrap the dough and chill it for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out heart shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake for 5-8 minutes. These cookies remain a pale color. Carefully remove from baking sheets and cool on racks. Spread on icing and let icing dry until shell forms. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about four dozen cookies.

Icing:
3-1/2 C confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten
½ tsp fresh lemon juice
Food coloring (I use Wilton’s gel icing colors)

In a medium bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, egg whites, and lemon juice. Blend until smooth.

Divide icing into small bowls. Add food colors. Blend the colors thoroughly. Make in small batches as necessary. Apply icing to cookies using small brushes. Stir individual bowls occasionally to prevent icing from hardening.

Makes enough for four dozen cookies.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Oh Christmas Tree . . .

Posted in About me, Art and Crafts, Creativity, Holidays, Kids, Parenting, tagged , , , on December 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Crystal snowflakes sparkle as they dangle from chandeliers, Santa guides his sleigh from high above his lookout in the family room, and Christmas fairies gently perch on the mantle above the stove top to supervise holiday cooking. My home seems to come alive during the holidays.

One of the first things I rush to decorate every year is my kitchen tree. It’s a small tree that stands near my bookcase of cookbooks and it’s covered with measuring spoons and measuring cups, cinnamon hearts and gingerbread men, cookie cutters tied with ribbons, and cookie dough ornaments. It’s a happy, homey-type of tree.

Some of my fondest memories are centered around Christmas trees. As a young child I remember stringing the giant and hot Christmas lights around and around the tree and then throwing the lead tinsel up in the air and watching it land on little precipices of evergreen.

Then when I got married, a Christmas tree became a luxury item, because we lived off of my meager salary while my husband was in graduate school. We bought a tree to decorate – it was only a three-footer, but it was our first three-foot tree! And amazingly enough, when we stood it on a crate it became a five-foot giant! With no money for ornaments, I remember crafting my own out of dough, wood, and whatever material I could find cheaply. For the garland, I patted myself on the back for cleverly thinking of stringing foam packing peanuts on dental floss. From far away my garland really did resemble strands of popcorn.

With the birth of each of my children came new tree decorating traditions. Every year I purchased an ornament for each child that represented some milestone in his life for that year. Our family tree has become filled with Sesame Street characters, Disney characters, unique child-crafted ornaments made from pine cones, macaroni, toilet paper rolls, etc., dog-related ornaments, sports-related paraphernalia, ornaments picked up from our family vacations, school mascots, symbolic ornaments such as cars (representing driver’s licenses) and mini beer steins or mini champagne bottles (celebrating 21st birthdays). You name it and we probably have it on our tree! As old as my kids are now, they still ask me what their ornament for the year is and I have to admit it is getting more difficult to find those special ornaments that represent significant moments in their adult lives!

Would I trade my family’s memory tree filled with rag-tag, random ornaments for a designer tree? Never in a million years! When I first decided to have a tree like this for our family, my thought was that as each child grew up and finally had a home of his own, he could take his childhood collection of ornaments with him. Hopefully, as he reflects on his ornaments, each child will remember the happy moments in his life and the love our family shares.

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Tablecloths Masquerading as Tree Skirts

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Holidays, tagged , , , , , , , on December 17, 2009| 1 Comment »

As I roamed through store after store one year searching for a Christmas tree skirt that was proportional to my large tree and that matched my decor, I became frustrated because all I could find were dinky little tree skirts at exorbitant prices. Then a thought occurred to me, “What about using a round tablecloth as a tree skirt?”

Tablecloths can be found in a variety of diameters, fabrics, and colors and you’re more likely to find a tablecloth that matches your home’s decor than a tree skirt! Consider purchasing a round tablecloth at stores like T.J. Maxx, Ross, Marshall’s or Tuesday Morning.

Here’s how I convert tablecloths into tree skirts:
1. Fold the tablecloth in half, then in quarters, and finally in eighths.
2. With a pair of fabric scissors or very sharp scissors, cut the point off the top of the folded fabric following the curve of the hemmed edge to create the hole for the tree trunk. Depending on the diameter of your tree trunk you’ll want to cut about one to two inches from the point, because when you finally open up the fabric, you’ll have a two to four inch hole.
3. Next while the fabric is still folded in eighths, cut a fold from the bottom of the hem all the way up to the cut you just made. This provides an opening in the tablecloth that enables you to drape it around the tree.
4. Using Mighty Mendit, a product advertised on television, you can glue some type of braiding or trim around the raw edge of the center hole and the two cut edges of the side opening. An alternative to this is folding the raw edges under a half-inch and hemming them on your sewing machine. A third option is to just leave the edges raw and tuck them under every year so that no one notices them. As you can probably guess, this is the option I’ve always chosen!

Note: The photo shows a 70″ round tablecloth around the base of a 9′ tree.

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