Take a look at these lights I found at IKEA. I think they would be great in a wreath or table display. I *love* that they are powered by a battery pack which makes them very versatile to use. Can't beat the price either. I bought a few packs of the white lights but am still figuring out how I'm going to use them. Do you have any ideas? 
Little Difference #18 - Christmas Decorations
image courtesy of Design-Ties 
image courtesy of Design-Ties
So tell me, what do Christmas decorations look like in your neck of the woods?
Today, January 6th, is 3 Kings Day also known as Epiphany. According to Christian faith this is the day that the 3 Kings arrived in Bethlehem, bearing gifts for Baby Jesus. It is a national holiday in Germany but not here in Luxembourg. Here in Luxembourg as in France, Epiphany is celebrated with a Kings Cake called, galette des rois in French.
This year we purchased a galette des rois with apple instead of frangipane since we are generally now a nut free house. We all enjoyed the apple version much better!
You may remember from my post last year that a trinket (in french called a fève) is hidden in every galette des rois. This year, Manny from Ice Age was hidden in our cake. I thought this was totally lame until I did a bit of research on fèves. I found out that very often fèves are made in the image of popular cartoon characters. It wasn't just the modern day commercial infiltrating of holidays like I originally assumed. Babies remain the most common fève with kings right behind. fèves are collectors items. You can find gobs of them on ebay. Who knew, right?
Wondering who found the fève in our cake and got to be King for a day?
Curious about 3 Kings Day in Switzerland? Read about it here.
Salt Dough Ornaments. Ours never fully hardened. After 3 days of waiting we finally just decorated them. They probably won't make it to next year but that's okay, we're enjoying them now. We used tempra paints and sharpies to color them.
This year I knew where to buy molasses so we were able to make gingerbread cookies. I made the dough up the night before and chilled it using this method. Genius. I will always do it this way from now on. The girls and I cut and decorated the next afternoon. 
Tissue paper vases. Saw this post and knew this would be a great craft for the girls. I was required to purchase the pink carnations the very next day.
Before my in-laws left Luxembourg we had a special holiday meal and exchanged gifts. My MIL and I planned the dinner from the cookbook, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, which they gave me for my birthday. Little did they know what a timely gift this cookbook was. I had just finished My Life in France on the plane to Hawaii and was feeling the love *big time* toward Julia Child.
For our main course, we made sole meuniere (which was the first dish Julia Child's ate when she arrived in France in 1948.) Although we found sole in the grocery store, we didn't buy it. When I told the man at the sea food counter I'd like some sole he held up a whole fish. Yep. I don't know how to fillet a fish, nor did I want to figure it out. In instances like this, the little French that I do know vanishes because I get so nervous. I couldn't even think of the verb to cut. So, I tried a cutting gesture to indicate I wanted it filleted. He held up a smaller fish. I said no, merci and went over to the prepackaged, filleted fish with my tail between my legs.
We didn't make a dessert, instead we purchased a special German cake called a baumkuchen. As a child my MIL received one of these special cakes at Christmas time from her Grandmother in Germany. Unfortunately we couldn't find one with a chocolate coating which is what my MIL remembered. We did find one with a sugar glaze though. We bought a few donut holes for the girls and garnished the plate with Christmas cookies. A perfect end to a special and memorable meal.
Left to Right: Leftover mac-n-cheese, bacon bits, dried pears, tooth picks, grapes, sesame sticks, trail mix, veggie booty, strawberries, cantaloupe, cheese bread sticks, marinara sauce (for dipping the cheese bread)
Waiting for our guests to arrive.
Dinner table.
background. I did that at Halloween with a big yellow piece of poster board. Thought it was pretty good. So far though, my
things sell much better in person than on my Etsy shop. I plan to make a set of the "valentine" loteria images for Rising Stars one of the local shops I consign with. I also thought the Amor Tattoo onesie would be fun to show case for Valentine's Day. Wow, I seem to have a renewed energy for my little basement sweatshop endeavor. It's a Christmas miracle.
