Handmade Christmas Ornaments :: Dried Apples and Cinnamon

When I was 22, I spent a winter working in the delightful Austrian village called Kitzbuhel. I worked in a little family run pension. My job was to help prepare the food for breakfast and lunch for the hotel guests. In the afternoons, I was off, off to the ski slopes until well after the sun had set. Life was so much fun!

On Christmas Eve, the few of us who worked in the pension, were invited to the owners home for drinks. The owner was a wealthy Austrian and it was quite a posh affair. His house was magnificent but what has stayed with me for all these years, is the sight of his Christmas tree. It was the most spectacular Christmas tree I have ever seen. It was at least 10 feet tall and was decorated from top to bottom in edible ornaments... white marshmallow garlands, golden walnuts, pink frosted snowflake cookies. I had never imagined a Christmas tree to be so softly beautiful. I have thought of it often since then and have come to the conclusion that the reason why I found it so lovely was because every single ornament was handmade.

Some of the prettiest ornaments were made with dried fruit. Dried orange and apple slices. So, in a effort to give our tree some Austrian loveliness, the children and I made dried apple ornaments just like the ones I remember.

We cut apple slices and designed a little drying rack that we left outside for a couple of days. The weather has been cold and dry here, perfect for drying fruit, but if your outdoors is too moist, you can set up your drying rack in a cool and dry spot in your home.

When our apple slices were nice and dry, we strung them with a little raffia and added a stick of cinnamon.

They are so pretty, just as I remember from my magical time on the Alps.

Happy Christmas crafting,
Blessings and magic,
Donni