Monthly Archives: January 2011

The talking tree explained

All right, I hear tell that there are people out there dying of curiosity because of the post about our talking tree.  It’s OK, you can have one too, if you like, though you might prefer to do it next Christmas.  Talking trees can be quite nice.  Ours actually turned out being more than 10 feet tall, but we then had to cut it shorter so that it could stand up in our house. 

At first glance, it may look like many typical Christmas trees, but a closer examination will reveal that such is not quite the case.  Rather than the typical ornaments found on Christmas trees, this tree’s décor consists of individually created paper decorations, each containing a Biblical passage that touches upon speech.  That is why we called it a talking tree – because each tree ornament was a “talking verse”.  This has become a sort of Christmas tradition for us.  Each year we choose a different topic.  For example, our first nine years were dedicated to covering each of the aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23.  Once the topic is chosen, each person finds verses that go with that topic and makes about half a dozen to a dozen decorations.  You will notice from the pictures that certain individuals prefer the computer’s chirography over their own.

The Talking Tree A few examples A talking verse Another talking verse

Our hope in having this ornamentation hanging on the tree is that people will read them and think about these verses.  Another result of this kind of decoration is that the Christmas tree stays up much longer than many people’s trees.  We generally don’t take it down until it seriously starts loosing needles.

The Sacchariferous Culinary Arts

In our home, just about any excuse is a good one if the result of the undertaking is a dessert.  Well, I guess that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but we certainly do like making cakes, especially the type that has to be decorated.  So, today we decided to make an igloo cake.  After all, it is winter, and although we realise that penguins and igloos do not live in the same place, we made this cake because it was cute and because Nathanael’s birthday is coming up soon.Smile

The snow blocks are are marshmallows cut in half.  This works well if done with a sharp knife dipped in hot water between each marshmallow.  The penguins were painstakingly made by Elizabeth out of marzipan.  The hat was added in afterwards.

Making the penguins The Igloo Guarding the Fort

Update:

Speaking of sweet treats, you may be interested in this other creation of Elizabeth’s: Apple Ciniders (Apple-Cinnamon spiders).  They were really good.  If you want the recipe, just ask.  She will probably be horrified, as I am pretty sure she didn’t write it out, but she could certainly write out a recipe that would make something similar.  Here is a sample:

Ciniders (Apple-Cinnamon Spiders)