Thanksgiving Break in Florida

     This year we had no school closings due to hurricanes or tropical storms.  That means most of the public schools decided to adjust there calendars by letting the students have a nine day break.  YAAY!  I picked up my grandson from school Friday and he is not to return until a week from the following Monday.    

     The upside of all this time off from the normal routine is, I will have a little helper around the house to learn how to make the holiday gifts I have on my list for this year.  The down side is the little helpers that live in the homes I clean will also be home this week.  Some of them will be “helping” which is always fun!  Still, I have a list of gifts that need making and this looks like a good week to get started.

     This year I am making extracts, perfume, aprons and yard jewelry.  I am making almond, walnut, lemon, vanilla and orange extract.  I am making perfume from plumeria flowers that bloomed in the garden last summer.  The left over oils will be added to melted wax to become scented sand candles.  I am making aprons and a matching oven mitt for the bakers and cooks in the family based on the patterns my grandmother used to make and sell aprons in the Depression of the 1930s.  Also, I am making a batch of fire starters for the campers and outdoors men.  The yard jewelry for our family garden lovers will be inverted wine bottles made into hummingbird feeders gifted with a bottle of nectar to fill them with.   We are also making no sew quilts and fleece hats and scarves. 

     It is going to be a busy week of crafting.  And, what does this have to do with prepping and preparing for hard times?  Everything.  My grandmother made and sold aprons door to door during the Depression to help add a few pennies to the family coffers.  I won’t ask my grandson to cut and sew along with me, but while he is munching on the warm fresh peanut butter cookies we will make together, I will cut and I will sew and he will absorb the memory.

     The fire starters we will make together and he will acquire the ability to make and start fires as they will need to be tested.  There will be marshmallows!  The extracts require cleaning of fruits and nuts and prepping the jars and measuring the ingredients.  The perfume requires measuring ingredients with an eyedropper and carefully mixing them and funneling into fancy little bottles I bought at a yard sale. 

     My grandson will have lessons in measuring liquids and solids which is math and science.  There will be lessons in fire safety and melting points.  More science!  He will learn to bend wires and use epoxy and there will be glitter and glue.  We will talk about the humming birds and where the ingredients to the crafts come from and how they were acquired.  I will tell stories about my grandmother and his recently passed grandmother and we will carry on traditions that keep us out of the mall on Black Friday.  There will be sugar cookies and I promised several dozen deviled eggs for the family feast.  He will be full.  He will smell the sweet smells of baking and learn the lessons of making. 

     Sure, he will watch the holiday specials on the television and I will pick some classics for movie night.  He will not see the inside of a department store or see my credit card.  He will see his family and learn to keep a secret till Christmas.  He will forever have the knowledge and experience of making and making do.