I hope everyone enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving Holiday.

Mother Nature is letting us know that winter is just around the corner with chilly days and cold nights. If you have a fireplace or woodburning stove, remember to have your chimney checked & cleaned professionally before making the first fire of the season. I can tell you from personal experience that having the fire department over to put out a chimney fire isn't much fun!

We rotate christmas among our family and this year isn't 'our' turn. Rather then putting up a tree and decorating inside, most of our holiday decorating is done outside this year. Here's some ideas that are fun and easy:

Make a Twig Tree

Trim branches and twigs off shrubs in your yard, 3 to 5 feet tall. Use gold and silver spray paint and spray the underside of leaves and needles on some of the branches, the upperside on others. If you have some plants with berries, lightly spray some with white paint and sprinkle with glitter. After they have dried, shake off the excess glitter. Arrange in a vase, metal bucket or large ceramic planter.
If desired, tie with a bow and/or hang some ornaments from the branches.

Feed the Birds

This is a fun activity for elves of all ages. You will need:

• Old Bread
• Raffia, twine, yarn or fishing line
• Peanut Butter
• Bird seed, raw peanuts and small pieces of dried fruit
• Cookie cutters

Use the cookie cutters to cut out your shapes from the bread slices. Shapes can also be torn out by hand.
Bake in oven at 250 degrees until dry or toast on light setting.
Make a hole in each shape for attaching the string/twine.
Put the seeds and dried fruit into a pie tin, plastic bowl or deep pan. If you have little elves helping, select a larger and deeper pan!
Spread peanut butter generously on the shapes, then press into the seed mixture until all sides are coated well.

Hang from trees and shrubs in your garden and watch the birds find their treats!