DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

Origins of the Straw Bear     In Whittlesea, from when no one quite knows, it was the custom on the Tuesday following Plough Monday (the 1st Monday after Twelfth Night) to dress one of the confraternity of the plough in straw and call him a  "Straw Bear".  A newspaper of 1882 reports that  ..."he was then taken around the town to entertain by his frantic and clumsy gestures, the good folk who had on the previous day subscribed to the rustics, a spread of beer, tobacco and beef".     The bear was described as having great lengths of tightly twisted straw bands prepared and wound up the arms, legs and body of the man or boy who was unfortunate enough to have been chosen. Two sticks fastened to his shoulders met a point over his head and the straw wound around upon them to form a cone above the  "Bear's"  head. The face was quite covered and he could hardly see. A tail was provided and a strong chain fastened around the armpits. He was made to

   This recipe comes from  www.dessertfirstgirl.com  .  I remember eating these as a kid will a tall glass of ice cold milk.  I guess the company that had made them for so many years is closing up.  So at least someone has a recipe so we can pass them down to our own children.  Good luck and happy baking! Goodbye, Mother's Cookies   Many of you have already heard that the venerable  Mother's Cookies has closed down . I found out about this last week just as I was leaving for a trip; therefore I spent much of the weekend mourning the end of this beloved institution and wondering if all the circus animal cookies would be gone from the stores by the time I returned. Judging from the many articles written urging cookie fans to stock up on their favorites, not an unfounded fear. As the first photo shows, I was fortunately able to get my hands on a bag after my return, and I've been slowly enjoying them this week. I know – perhaps I should have kept it hermetical

   This diy comes from  www.findinspirations.com  .  I cool afternoon project to do during those cool afternoons or evenings while listening to a favorite cd.  Enjoy! Paper Flowers – Anyone Can Do That Japanese Kusudama Anyone can do that, I assure you. The proof: I can, just take a quick look at my result below. And, believe me, I am neither meticulous nor particularly patient. You could even say I’m the opposite. Below you can see my very first attempt to create paper flowers. What you will need to make your own Kusudama paper ball? 1. Paper  – 60 square pieces of paper, all of the same size. I use advertising catalogues (for your convenience in the first part of this tutorial I use plain blue paper so that the folds are more visible). My squares are 3,5 cm x 3,5 cm but you can make them bigger, smaller squares would be rather hard to fold. For every flower you will need 5 pieces. 2. Ruler 3. Pencil 4. Glue  – the glue I use have two nice properties: (1) it do