preparing for winter celebrations
By Kelli M
@spiderdust (14760)
San Jose, California
December 18, 2022 4:53pm CST
On the first day of winter, one of the things our family does is decorate the trees outside with things that the birds can eat. The two youngest boys are working on those decorations today. The youngest made birdseed ornaments out of gelatin and seeds, pressing that mixture into greased metal cookie cutters and leaving a hole for twine. The 12-year-old is stringing cranberries and will string popcorn a little later. I sliced up some oranges and grapefruit last week and put those slices in the dehydrator, and those will have twine threaded through them too.
On Tuesday (technically a day early, but it's what worked schedule-wise for us this week) they'll come home from school and decorate the trees outside. We'll make wassail, have a nice dinner, and hopefully have a fire and toast marshmallows outside after sunset. With any luck, we won't have any rain that day!
13 people like this
12 responses
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
We can watch the bird and squirrels eating it from our kitchen window too.
2 people like this
. Lots of treats outside for all . . . enjoy!
@much2say (55901)
• Los Angeles, California
19 Dec 22
@spiderdust We have a tangelo and orange tree. The fruit is too big for the birds, but the squirrels will take it whole. It would be cool to slice 'em like you said - at least more can share. Oh - I didn't think about rehydrating - I just don't know if we'll get any rain again in coming weeks.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
@much2say You can totally hang fresh slices in the tree!
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
The birds like the fresh citrus a little better, but sometimes I use the dried citrus inside. The rains will rehydrate it some and the squirrels will take the citrus pieces with them.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (90294)
• Arvada, Colorado
18 Dec 22
Nothing like family togetherness..that will be lovely toasting marshmallows.
What a lovely tradition for the kids and birds
Love your photo so much
Love your photo so much3 people like this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
Thanks! I took it last year while they were decorating the tree outside.
3 people like this
@DaddyEvil (137461)
• United States
19 Dec 22
Hey! Is that Santa Claus helping out at your house? That's not fair! 
Anything we put out here is eaten by the squirrels and bunnies... if the dog next-door doesn't scare them off by barking at them.
We always put the leftover pumpkin decorations out into the ditch at the end of the yard and deer and raccoons will clean those up. (The ditch is still partly full of water from the last rain so we're still holding onto the pumpkins for now. We'll put them out when the ditch is dry.)
Anything we put out here is eaten by the squirrels and bunnies... if the dog next-door doesn't scare them off by barking at them.
We always put the leftover pumpkin decorations out into the ditch at the end of the yard and deer and raccoons will clean those up. (The ditch is still partly full of water from the last rain so we're still holding onto the pumpkins for now. We'll put them out when the ditch is dry.)1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
@DaddyEvil I totally get that!
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
He isn't Santa, but his grandfather was a mall Santa! 
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
22 Dec 22
We had a great Solstice! The kids said the wassail was the best part.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (61561)
• Centralia, Washington
22 Dec 22
@spiderdust Now I must run to you tube and find the Wassail song.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
22 Dec 22
@sallypup Are you thinking of this one?
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@kobesbuddy (78871)
• East Tawas, Michigan
18 Dec 22
Kelli, your family is enjoy this holiday season, to the fullest:) Is this your husband and daughter? What a nice picture!
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (78871)
• East Tawas, Michigan
19 Dec 22
@spiderdust Men love bushy beards, now most of them do!
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
18 Dec 22
That's my youngest son! He has long hair.
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
@kobesbuddy Otto (guy with the big beard) is also 50.
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
22 Dec 22
They had such a good time decorating! I need to take some pictures of it tomorrow to share.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (471969)
• Switzerland
20 Dec 22
@spiderdust They sell those decorations here and they are even expensive, but the ingredients to make them are cheap.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
22 Dec 22
@LadyDuck It will make your house smell so good too.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (80635)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
19 Dec 22
That is wonderful, and how kind for the birds, wish I had thought of birdseed ornaments when I had my garden in Latvia. I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
You can still do it in Florida! I hope you also have a lovely Christmas.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (220068)
• Walnut Creek, California
22 Dec 22
@spiderdust I may have felt it without realizing it. Maybe I'll do a post about it.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (220068)
• Walnut Creek, California
24 Dec 22
@spiderdust Eeyore, my earthquake sensor, did not budge.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
22 Dec 22
No, but I heard about it! I'm glad we didn't get what Ferndale did.
1 person likes this
@just4him (317249)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
20 Dec 22
@spiderdust That's good you don't have restrictions from an HOA. I live in a senior housing complex.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
19 Dec 22
To be fair, this is in our backyard and not the front, so it's only visible to us. We also aren't part of an HOA, so we don't have the same restrictions as some.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
22 Dec 22
What do you do on that day?
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
24 Dec 22
@Albain That sounds like a fun day of celebrating with family!
I don't do a huge dinner for Christmas Day anymore, instead we have a huge breakfast in the morning and nibbles throughout the day. It makes it a less stressful day for me that way.
@Albain (237)
• Edinburgh, Scotland
22 Dec 22
@spiderdust Christmas Day is a day for visiting family. We will be at our daughter's house for most of the day but, for a change, Christmas dinner won't be a home-cooked meal - this year we are all (11 of us) going out to an Indian restaurant for dinner and then back home to open gifts and indulge ourselves in a small glass of sherry () and play board games with our grandchildren.
) and play board games with our grandchildren.1 person likes this
