Ornament Art

When we first got married, we had no Christmas ornaments.  We spent the first few years collecting new and fun ornaments from places we travelled and lived.  For some reason, a large majority of those are breakable and once you have kids, you realize just how impractical that really is (at least when they're this young). Adam thinks every ball is meant to be thrown and Mary likes to touch and play with every single one.  I swear, I pick up and replace at least 4 of them a day.  Having a "Charlie Brown" tree is bad enough.  Having one with just a handful of ornaments is even worse.  This year, I decided that the kids and I would make some Gingerbread ornaments.  I originally thought making popcorn garland would be fun, but then I had visions of walking into the living room and finding Adam eating off the tree.  I got onto my new favorite website pinterest.com and looked up gingerbread ornaments (yes, I've never made them before).  Did you know that most of the recipes called for real gingerbread cookies?  Umm, how do you keep your kids from eating them off the tree?  Do they really last from year to year?  Once I again, I had nightmares of Adam eating them, but they would be stale and moldy and I kept picturing the emergency room visit and the projectile vomiting...not sure if it came from him or me.  Anyway, I finally found a salt dough recipe that couldn't have been easier.

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup warm water

1 cup flour 

Of course, the wonderful "gingerbread" smell wouldn't be in this, so I added a bunch of cinnamon and a couple dashes of nutmeg.  I even used extra cinnamon sprinkled on the counter to keep the dough from sticking.  Perfect!

Mary had a great time helping me roll out and cut festive shapes.  Adam thought we were making real cookies and couldn't wait to try it.  Bless his heart (one of my favorite southern phrases), he spit it out quite quickly once he realized it tasted like salt.

Make sure you poke a hole in them before cooking them.  I used a toothpick.  Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours, or until hard.  They don't expand, so you can actually fit more on the cookie sheet if you want.

They ended up having a cool pale brown, speckly color (and they smell wonderful), but I thought it would be even better if they were painted.  I still have lots of paint leftover from the alphabet project.

And if you're wondering what to do with the leftover dough, I rolled it up and had Mary make a hand print.  Darn, it turned out so well, I think I need to make another batch so Adam can do one too.  :)  They're really light as a feather, hard as a rock and salty as...well, salt dough.  I can't wait to string them up and get them on the tree.  This recipe made 27 small ornaments a one handprint.  And yes, I did catch Adam trying to eat one earlier...he was unsuccessful.  Whew!  

Don't be surprised if you find one of these attached to your Christmas present this year.