A Bird's Christmas

December 2008

This year we decided to decorate a Christmas tree outside for the birds. We got the idea from Eve Bunting's book "The Night Tree". First we decided to make some suet by mixing together leftover bacon grease and ground beef drippings with crushed nuts, honey, cornmeal, cut up dates and peanut butter. We didn't get the ratio quite right so it didn't solidify nicely, but it was good enough to decorate pinecones with.

We also made home made popcorn to string with some cranberries. And finally we hung some apple and mandarine halves. The birds loved it and Samantha had a lot of fun 'crafting' the ornaments and decorating the trees outside.

Gathering the ingredients

boiling up the suet.

Sammy thinks this is a stinky job!

A bowl of pretty garlands.

... and Sam rolls them in the bird seeds.

We also wanted to decorate in front so we could watch the birds from the window.

The birds came for the popcorn string first.

And soon they also discovered the pinecones and fruits.