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6 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: Make your own christmas centerpiece this year using plants and natural materials you can find in your own backyard!

What You’ll Need: 

• Pinecones
• cinnamon sticks
• Evergreen with needles
• Holly with berries
• sharp shears
• serving tray (preferably one you don’t want to reuse)
• 1 – 3 Candles with candle holders
• hairspray
• rubber bands

You’ll want to cut your evergreen and holly using sharp shears. Cut and bunch your evergreen together with a rubber hand tied to the ends of the bunches. Hang upside down for a week or more in a cool, dry place. To dry holly with berries, place them upright in a container like a tall glass bottle in a cool, dry place.

Once dried, spray with hairspray. Spray the pinecones and cinnamon sticks with hairspray as well. The hair spray will help preserve them. Take your tray and place your candles with their holders evenly spaced apart in the center of your tray.

Now comes the fun and creative part! Place your evergreen, holly and pinecones around the candles in whichever way you think looks nice, glue them to the tray and together using a hot glue gun filling in the gaps.

Be sure to leave a little room around the candles so you replace them if you want to reuse your centerpiece. Just like that you have a handmade, homemade beautiful and natural christmas centerpiece!

7 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: A ultra healthy and super tasty soup commonly eaten in Slavic countries such as the Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Lithuania is Borscht, made using beets and a few other ingredients – it can be eaten both cold and hot – in the Ukrainian tradition, we have our borscht cold, sometimes we eat it with a dab of sour cream and it is the first dish served for Christmas eve dinner.

What You’ll Need: 

• 3 – 4 large raw beets
• 1 medium onion (diced)
• 2 large potato
• 2 – 3 carrots
• 1 head of cabbage
• white vinegar
• coarse ground black pepper
• sea salt
• low sodium vegetable broth
• bay leaves
• dill
• vegetable or canola oil
• sour cream

Add beets and 10 cups of water to a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for about 1 hour, check to see if the beets are ready – you can test by taking one out (don’t burn yourself, don’t just grab with your bare hands, use a fork and take from the pot, if it cuts easily with a knife then they are tender enough and ready to use). Save the water. Allow the beets to cool, peel and slice into strips. You can use a mandoline slicer for this or simply use a cutting knife. While the beets are cooling, peel the potatoes, dice and add to the same water the beets boiled in. Peel the carrots and add to the same water. Boil for 8 minutes. Shred half of the cabbage and add to the water.

Boil the potatoes, carrots and cabbage for another 5 – 6  minutes. Remove the carrots and slice into matchstick size strips. Sautee the diced onion in a pan with the vegetable or canola oil. When the onion becomes a light golden brown color, add the carrot and 2 tbsps of white vinegar. Mix together.

Chop a bushel of dill, 1 – 1 1/2 cups is fine. Add 6 cups of vegetable broth to the pot. Next, combine beets, potatoes, shredded carrot and onion mixture, dill, bay leaves, sea salt and coarse ground black pepper to the pot. Stir together and allow the soup to simmer covered with all the ingredients for another 20 to 30 minutes.

Make sure the soup is at a very low simmer, you want the flavor and juices of the

vegetables to seep slowly and gently into the broth without the water evaporating.  Remove from the heat and allow the soup to steep and cool. Place in the fridge overnight. Soup often times tastes better the day after because the vegetables, seasoning and broth have a chance of infusing one another and blending better.

Being that this is a cold soup anyway, making it the day before and putting it in the fridge overnight makes the most sense. Once you are ready to serve, you can use a strainer lined with a cheesecloth for only the broth (a traditional way this dish is served) or you can simply add the soup with all the vegetables. Whichever way you or your guests prefer – it is a matter of taste and preference. You can add a dollop of sour cream and garnish with a sprig of dill in the center of each serving bowl.

8 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: Kissing under the mistletoe is a christmas tradition that has its origins in ancient practices specifically in places with colder climates or those that experience cold winter months.

Mistletoes are plants that grow on a variety of trees including oak, apple and willows. The mistletoe was believed to help with specific ailments and health issues such as epilepsy, arthritis and infertility. However, consumed in large quantities as with many potent plants and herbs it could be highly poisonous. Today, some herbalists and medical practitioners say it can be used as a helping aid in curing cancer.

Mistletoe is a resilient plant that keeps its rich green color and prospers all winter long, even in the some of the coldest conditions.

It’s strength and vitality made it a symbolic token of eternal life and good fortune – becoming incorporated into rituals, ceremonies and hung above doorways as a representation of prosperity and everlasting peace even when conditions were brutal – like during those harsh winter months.

9 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: Edible snowglobes make super cute decorations, awesome gifts or party favors during the winter holidays. They work just like real snow globes but the best part is you can eat the stuff inside!

What you’ll need:

• Holiday sugar cookie cutouts – in different holiday shapes, like christmas trees, gingerbread men, stockings
• Round sugar cookies
• icing
• royal icing
• gel
• paint brush
• edible glitter
• mason jars (size depends on size of cookie)

Bake your holiday shaped and round sugar cookies according to the instructions. Add icing to your holiday shaped sugar cookies first and allow to dry. Add a thick layer of royal icing to your round sugar cookies – these will serve as your holiday shaped sugar cookie stand. Stick your holiday cookies into the icing firmly and allow to dry.

Gently brush a clear gel over your cookie creations to serve as a sticky base for the edible glitter to stick. Sprinkle each cookie with edible glitter. Using the inside of the lid of the mason jar, use a dab of royal icing and stick your cookie creation on top to hold it in place, allow to dry.

10 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: A fun and easy holiday gift idea excellent for friends and family members, especially for those who love cooking is herb flavored infused cooking oil. This recipe is for a savory chile pepper, onion and garlic infused oil. The oil can be used for cooking or dipping.

What You’ll Need:

• Dry Woody Herbs (thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes, etc.)
• sprig of rosemary
• pearl onions
• Garlic (minced)
• dry chile peppers
• extra virgin olive oil
• strainer
• cheesecloth
• clear bottles (you can recycle mason jars, jam and jelly jars or any other glass containers)
• saucepan
• baking sheet

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your pearl onions in halves. Place your minced garlic and pearl onions on a baking sheet and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, check on them at about 10 minutes, the garlic should be a light golden brown.

If so, remove from the oven, if not, leave in for another 2 minutes or so. Use a combination of dry woody herbs you think would taste good combined together. Add herbs (about 2 – 3 tbsps of the combination), olive oil, pearl onions (3 onions or 6 halves), minced garlic (1 -2 tbsps) and dry chile peppers (about 2 – 3)  to your pot and place stove on medium low heat. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes, do not bring to boil or put heat so high that the oil spits or splatters. Take off of heat and allow to the oil to cool.

Add a sprig of rosemary or a chile pepper to each of your glass containers. This is mostly for decorative purposes. Once the oil is completely cooled, use a strainer lined with a cheesecloth and pour your oil through it into the containers. Feel free to add a few of the pearl onions, chile peppers and garlic to the glass bottle.

11 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: Giving cash for christmas? The Raining Money Umbrella is a super cute way to give cash this Christmas without simply sticking it in a holiday card. This idea is especially useful if you are giving one large bill or a couple of larger bills.

What you’ll need

• Umbrella
• String
• Scissors
• Scotch Tape
• Cash money (minimum of five bills)

Buy an umbrella you think the person might like (just don’t get one of those transparent umbrellas or else you will ruin the surprise! Let’s say you are giving $100, turn them into $5 bills or $20 bills.  Cut string with your scissors. You will want string that won’t get tangled up if you are using more than twenty bills for your gift. Otherwise, you can use dental floss or fishing line. There is a chance your strings may get tangled up regardless especially if you are using a lot of bills. Don’t worry, the idea is still awesome.

You can make the strings all of the same length or try different lengths but do not make them longer than the canopy of the umbrella when it is closed.

Tape one string per bill on the outer edge of the bill. Then tie each string with a bill attached to the metal prongs that are attached to the canopy. Space them a part well enough to avoid tangling.

Then gently close the umbrella. Give it a test. When they open their brand new umbrella, the money you tied should hang down! It is a cute surprise and puts a smile on their face!

More: sixdifferentways.com

12 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: A really wonderful gift idea that is personalized and budget friendly is a personalized gift idea. This is great for family members, couples or to give to good friends!

Most office supply stores will have the resources for you to print out your personalized calendar or you can do it from the comfort of your home online and it is fairly simple to do! Gather your favorite photos and memories of you and your loved one and choose a photograph for each month of the year. You can put a spin on this and make it a personal to that individual solely.

For example, if your friend really loves breakfast foods, you can make each month a different breakfast food! A silly idea but maybe your friend has a goofy sense of humor!

Another idea is if they are an artist or really love a particular artist or art style, you can take nice photos of their artwork and find nice photos of their favorite style of artwork and add one for each month. This can show you admire their artwork and you support them every day and every month of the year.

Know someone working towards a goal this year? You can make each month a motivating quote or a visual reminder inspiring them to achieve their goal.

This idea is wonderful because it is personal to the special someone you are making it for and it is a fun and creative activity for you as well!

Read more from the original source: sixdifferentways.com

13 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: Spread the holiday cheer this year by making christmas ornaments with positive quotes, affirmations and inspirational compliments to decorate your own tree and to give to family and friends!

What you’ll need:

• Glitter
• shiny confetti
• white paper
• multicolored construction paper (optional)
• scissors
• clear round ornaments

Using your scissors, cut white paper into strips that are wide enough to write on but short enough to fit snuggly inside of your ornament. You can also add a colored piece of construction paper behind the white paper for extra pizazz!

On each strip think of optimistic, happy and kind quotes or words that you or someone else would like to hear. For example, I received one from a friend of mine that said “You are wildly beautiful.” A few others you could use are “Your smile makes the whole room light up,” or “You have a big heart and a magical soul,” or “You are a loving and empowered person.”

Write one of these on each strip of paper. Open the clear ornaments and add glitter and confetti, then place one quote in each ornament. Close the tops and shake them up!

Very gently add these ornaments to a large bag and have each of your friends and family members select one or you can hang them on your christmas tree and let them chose their own!

Read this article: sixdifferentways.com

14 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: A great gift, a chapped lip cure and tasty kissable treat for your lips, Chocolate Peppermint Kiss Tinted Lip Balm is a perfect christmas and holiday activity. You can make your own at home using a few simple ingredients!

What You’ll Need:

• White Beeswax Pellets
• Cocoa Powder
• Sweet Almond Oil
• Coconut Oil
• Peppermint Essential Oil
• Small Plastic Containers or Tins (I used a bunch of those small altoid tins)

Using a double boiler or microwave, melt the white beeswax pellets, be careful not to overheat them if you are using a lot especially in the microwave. You will want to put them in 40 second intervals and stir each time you take them out. Add cocoa powder to the melted beeswax and stir until smooth. The cocoa powder gives a light tint to your lips when applied.

Add equal parts sweet almond oil and coconut oil to the mixture. Add 20 – 30 drops of peppermint essential oil. Mix altogether and then using a funnel gently pour the mixture into individually portioned containers.

I didn’t give exact measurements because I rarely do single serving lip balms. Done in batches, you can experiment with the measurements but you will want your lip balm to not be too thick or very liquidy, however you will want the mixture to pour easily into each container.

After you have poured the mixture, allow them to firm overnight. Make sure they are stored in a cool place so as not to melt just like you would any store bought lip balm or chapstick.

Not only is this lip balm great for curing chapped lips but it is natural, edible and tasty too!

15 Days til’ Christmas Countdown: Colder weather means chapped lips and dry skin, you can make your own peppermint body and facial scrub at home with a few simple steps.

What You’ll Need: 

• granulated sugar
• peppermint essential oil
• grapeseed oil or jojoba oil
• 80% isopropyl rubbing alcohol
• 6 or 8 oz mason or glass jars
• Note: I don’t recommend using coconut oil as the smell of the coconut may overpower the smell of the peppermint.