Feather in One’s Tree

We spent this Christmas with my family in Maryland (more on that later). My mom came up with an amazing idea for an outdoor Christmas tree—one that was fun for Alex to help create, and drew a variety of wildlife to the backyard for him to watch.

Birdseed ornaments

My mom started by using cookie cutters to cut out shapes from slices of bread. She let the bread go stale by letting it sit out for several days.

Once the bread was stale, we punched a hole through each shape and strung it with red, gold or silver string.

Afterwards, we spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the ornaments and then dipped them in a bucket of birdseed (this is where Alex helped out). My mom also dipped several ornaments in a bag of worms, which are supposed to attract more exotic birds. We set aside both types to hang on the outdoor tree.

Pine cone ornaments

For the pine cones, we made sure each pine cone had a hook attached to the top, then rolled them in peanut butter and dipped them in the bucket of birdseed.

Finished pine cone ornaments. 

Garland

We made garland for the tree by stringing peanuts (in their shells), popcorn and cranberries.  

My mom with her finished garland. 

Birdseed icicles

My mom found some bird seed that looked like icicles. She attached wire to the top of these and we hung on the tree.   

The finished product!

My sister, my mom and I trimmed the tree with the finished ornaments. Although Alex helped, he was more interested in the dog next door. My mom covered the table where the tree sat with a plastic tablecloth to protect against any bird residue.