Cookies on the Christmas Tree: Your edible holiday decorations?
My grandmother used to hang clove studded oranges and tangerines on the tree. My mother used to hang Christmas sugar cookie cut outs on the tree. I hang gingerbread cutouts every year (I love the way they make the room smell). I have also done mini popcorn balls studded with cranberries and wrapped in cellophane as little ornaments. And of course there's popcorn cranberry garland. What do you do? Sugared fruit in a bowl? Do you mind if guests, kids, and in my case also pets eat these edible decorations? Dad always ate the cookies off the tree. So did my cat.
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12 Comments:
We tried - once - to have a lovely sugar sookie-decorated Christmas tree. It was very beautiful. We decorated each one differently and hung them with care. Then, of course (we obviously had not thought this through), our Saint Bernard proceeded to eat each and every one. Given that she was rather large (about 6 feet tall on her hind legs), she managed to get every one of them - without tipping the tree over. Lesson learned. But very funny. :)
Traveller at 8:38AM on 11/19/08
I believe the clove-studded citrus fruits are called Pomander Balls, and you can also use lemons or limes. Drying the fruits in bags with other spices after you put in the cloves like cinnamon and nutmeg is also nice--I remember making them in the second grade, and it's a great craft to do with kids because it's easy, fun, and smells lovely! I don't really consider them an edible decoration, though, because they're meant to be dried, not eaten--they were used in the middle ages as air fresheners and to preserve clothes with a sweet smell.
I always wanted to string popcorn and cranberries for a tree as a kid, but now I share my mother's fear that food on the tree might attract bugs.
We did used to spread peanut butter on acorns and roll them in bird seed for the birds and squirrels in the winter, and leave them in places where those animals frequented.
Given a recent thread about leaving food out in another context, I suppose the real question is if Ed Levine makes any holiday decorations with left-over pizza slices!
HeartofGlass at 8:41AM on 11/19/08
I used to make gingerbread men and put them on the tree. Not very decorated just with raisins. One day while cleaning I found one of our dogs running down the hall with legs sticking out of the mouth. Soon another dog and another casualty. They figured it out soon enough. No more cookies on the tree. Also the water fountain under the real tree had to go.
JerzeeTomato at 9:06AM on 11/19/08
fortunately my dog isn't so good on her hind legs (bully breed, she's a bit top-heavy), so i put my gingerbread men on the top half of the tree :). i can't imagine my tree without them.
@Jerzee, the water fountain comment made me laugh! when we lived up north, we had the occasional house mouse... one early morning before christmas i came downstairs to find a mouse happily lapping up water from the tree stand. the tree nearly toppled over at that point, once my dog spotted the mouse and proceeded to chase the thing all over the place.
french tart at 9:11AM on 11/19/08
No cookies and such here. I'm in SoCalif, and December is still a very warm month with our famously hot Santa Ana winds typically blowing several times through January (see recent news reports of wildfires in November). SoCalif is also notorious for its ants. And since our houses are built on slabs, no amount of weatherproofing, sealing, caulking, etc., will keep those babies out when there's something they find attractive inside. One year, I had them infest the water basin on the tree stand when I thoughtlessly decided to use the old trick of sugar in the water to preserve the tree. I can only imagine what cookies would do.
That said, for as long as I can remember (and probably much longer than that), my family has hung candy canes on the tree. We currently have no pets, and they are individually wrapped, so no pesties seek them out. And they look so festive! Cheap, edible decorations.
Bonus: If you have very small children, they are really easy for little hands to hang.
LoCo at 10:17AM on 11/19/08
I hang individually wrapped candy canes on the tree. I don't like to leave unwrapped food out, I share HeartofGlass's fear of bugs.
VerasTastyFreeze at 11:45AM on 11/19/08
Over the years, we've done sugar cookies and gingerbread people, but not since my children grew up. We always made popcorn/cranberry garland (make sure the popcorn is old and rubbery - fresh popcorn is nearly impossible to thread) and then put it out in the trees for the birds. I still hang wrapped candy canes, and a couple of their pasta/macaroni creations have survived the years. Never had a problem with bugs, and the doggies left the tree alone.
PerkyMac at 12:12PM on 11/19/08
We always hang candy canes on the tree -- actually, for a while, my mom somehow had this bunch of candy canes that managed to escape devouring (I LOVE them), and they were brought out year after year. We still make fun of her for it -- who saves candy canes??
I've always wanted to try the popcorn garland, but I don't think anyone in my family would have the patience to help me thread them.
kfarrel3 at 12:27PM on 11/19/08
Mix a couple of ounces of cheap ground cinnamon with a dollop of applesauce -- it makes a delicious-smelling dough for cookie cut out decorations. Just cookie-cut them and let them dry on wax paper. Although technically edible, they are more for smelling and looking nice than eating.
kazoinker at 1:38PM on 11/19/08
No cookies on the tree because of the dogs, cats and my dad. My mother would hang walnuts and chestnuts though.
pjracz10 at 1:05AM on 11/20/08
@heart of glass--I hadn't thought about using lemons and limes. I haven't done the oranges in the past, but this may be grandma's last christmas so I thought she would enjoy seeing one her traditions again. I don't have to worry about bugs, but we have a ten month old golden retriever who still is very puppish and eats EVERYTHING! Our cats aren't quite so bad. So, any cookies will go up high. We also do the wrapped candy canes on the tree--they're just so darn easy and cheap.
@pjracz I'm going to try walnuts and chesnuts--sounds nice.
dhorst at 3:57PM on 11/20/08
We love to make a miniature christmas tree out of sugar cookies. Just take star shaped cookie cutters in progressively smaller sizes and then assemble the star cookies vertically and drizzle with icing. It's beautfiul and always delicious to dig into!
KatandMando at 4:16PM on 11/20/08