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Culinary Traditions

Kati Beatty, the new executive chef at the Emporia Country Club, shares her traditional and not-so-traditional family holiday fare

Making Merry A Holiday Tradition Returns to Emporia

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

8 Culinary traditions

Kati Beatty, the new executive chef at the Emporia Country Club, shares her traditional and not-so-traditional family holiday fare

16 Making Merry www.shopemporiafirst.com Editor & Publisher Chris and Ashley Walker Writers Holly Hollenbeck Copy Editor Ryann Brooks Zach Hacker Ashley Walker Marketing Montanna Cushing Cory Bosiljevac Whitney Cates Graphic Design Margie McHaley Dan Ferrell For more information: 517 Merchant St. Emporia, KS 66801 620-342-4800 www.emporiagazette.com

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A Holiday Tradition Returns to Emporia

22-32 Holiday Tips Entertaining, gift-giving and more

8 16

14, 22, 26-27, 29-31

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CULINARY TRADITIONS

Kati Beatty, the new executive chef at the Emporia Country Club, shares her traditional and not-so-traditional family holiday fare

By Ho lly Ho llenbeck | Photos by Dave Leiker

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Three Christmas dinner cooking tips from Kati

S Follow this advice to help your Christmas dinner preparations go smoother this year:

Have a Plan Decide what you are going to make, look at your recipes in advance, make shopping lists, and make sure you have space to store everything properly before the big day.

Timing is everything Remember to plan enough time to actually make all your food.

Sometimes people spend so much time planning the meal, they forget to give enough time to the actual cooking part!

Brine your turkey I brine my turkey so it will absorb extra moisture, which helps it stay more moist and juicy both during and after cooking. A brine is made of water and salt. I add orange halves and lemon halves with rosemary, smashed garlic cloves and onions. I roast my turkey and baste it with lots of butter.

haring a meal with family and friends is one tradition most of us partake in during the holidays.

Your family’s meal may include the traditional American fare with ham, turkey or duck as the main course along with mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, eggnog and pumpkin pie.

Or, it may include tamales, pozole, pavo, ponche navideno and ensalada de noche buena.

Or maybe your family’s tradition is to break tradition altogether and share a meal that is different every year, or you keep it simple by ordering takeout or pizza.

For Emporia native Kati Beatty and her family, it is mainly the latter.

“My family traditions are super weird for Christmas and Christmas Eve,” Beatty said. “My whole family goes to church at Sacred Heart, and afterwards we go to my grandparents’ house. We don’t have a traditional Christmas feast. We make our own sandwiches, and my aunts bring soup, veggie trays and chips and dip.”

There is one food item the family goes crazy over every year, and it’s something even more simple than soup and sandwiches and requires no preparation at all. But for the Beattys, it’s not Christmas without it.

“The most important part of Christmas Eve is the shrimp cocktail platter that we get from the store,” Beatty said. “We get home from church, open that platter, and it’s gone within 10 minutes.”

More recently, the 2017 hospitality and culinary arts graduate has started her own tradition: preparing a Christmas dinner for her family. But it’s not necessarily traditional in any sense.

“It’s never a repeat menu,” Beatty said. “It’s just something I think would be fun to make. I usually do the cooking all by myself; I like to be able to serve my family on a day of being together and hanging out.”

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KATI’S CHRISTMAS RECIPES Caramel Bourbon Glaze for Ham 1.5 cups honey 1 cup brown sugar ½ cup orange juice 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 tablespoon orange zest 1 cup bourbon ½ tablespoon whole grain mustard 1 bone-in ham Combine honey, brown sugar, orange juice and butter in a saucepan. Heat until boiling. Remove from heat. Stir in orange zest, bourbon, and whole grain mustard. Before roasting the ham, cover it with some of the glaze, reserving the rest for later. Wrap the ham in aluminum foil and roast at 350 degrees until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Remove foil and add the rest of the glaze on top to the ham. Carve and serve.

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Kati’s Sprouts

Apple Onion Tartlet

½ cup bacon, strips ¼ cup onions, diced 1 pound brussel sprouts, quartered ¼ cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 sheets puff pastry dough 2 white or yellow onions, julienned Oil and butter to caramelize the onions 3 Granny Smith apples, julienned ½ cup creme fraiche

Boil the brussel sprouts in water until tender. Render bacon strips with onions.

Add oil if needed. Add the brussel sprouts and brown. Once browned, add brown sugar and maple syrup. Salt to taste.

Thaw out the puff pastry dough. Lay out on a sheet pan. Bake at 350 degrees for five minutes. Caramelize the onions in some oil and butter in a saute pan. Set aside. Lay the apples out on the puff pastry dough and add the onions on top. Spread the creme fraiche on top of the onions and apples. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

HOLIDAY DRINK PA I R I NG S

Invigorate your excitement for the holiday season with drink and food pairings.

Beers can enhance a meal in ways that wine cannot while wines add an elegance that certainly bring class to any holiday gathering.

A popular choice this year is the Willamette Valley Riesling.

Aromatic and bright, it generally pairs well with sweet side dishes.

Because of its versatility, it evens out a wide variety of foods and is a table favorite during a Thanksgiving family feast.

The La Bella Prosecco is a crisp and fruity sparkling wine that will enhance any dessert at the dinner table.

Try it as a pre-dinner aperitif to enliven conversation and excite guests for the meal to come.

This red wine is a traditional favorite for Thanksgiving.

Mark West Pinot Noir has subtle earthy undertones that surround the fruit features of the wine and tend to show well with the traditional flavors of turkey and stuffing.

The hops, yeast and fruitiness of the Martin City Fallback Brown Ale blend well with the herbs in Turkey to give this main dish a hearty welcome!

In Founders Porter, we discover that its bitter malts play off the charred flavors of the meat.

Stuffing complements its flavors well.

For dessert, a newcomer to the stage is Lefthand Nitro Stout.

The roasted and toasted flavors blend well together.

Try it with any pie... pecan, apple or cherry.

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Tips for baking better Christmas cookies right. However, there are some tips that can help yield better, buttery bounties.

Measure flour properly Cookies and other baked treats are everywhere come the holiday season. It’s not uncommon to give cookies as gifts or arrive at holiday gatherings with cakes and other decadent desserts.

Cookies are a classic holiday treat, and some families even build entire traditions around baking Christmas cookies.

Novice bakers making cookies for the first time may be a little overwhelmed when perusing recipes. Baking is a science, and sometimes it takes practice to get the results just

Measuring flour the right way can ensure cookies come out right. The Cooking Channel says to spoon the flour lightly into a dry measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. Do not dip the measuring cup into the flour or tap the knife against the cup. This will pack too much flour into the measuring cup and result in dry, tough cookies.

Chill out

Carefully follow recipes that call for chilling cookie dough. This process is important for making sliced and shaped cookies. By chilling, the dough becomes more malleable for rolling and even slicing.

Handle butter with care

Butter can make or break a cookie recipe, as butter is often the glue that holds the cookie together. Therefore, it is key to follow the directions carefully regarding how to handle butter.

Smithsonian.com says to leave butter at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes to properly soften it. This takes patience, but fiddling with butter too much can damage its delectable integrity. While purists may say butter is best, margarine may be an acceptable substitute if it has a high fat content; otherwise, cookies may spread out and flatten.

When it comes time to cream the butter with sugar, be sure to do so thoroughly to incorporate air into the butter and remove the grainy texture of the sugar.

Slow down the eggs

Add eggs one at a time to make sure each will emulsify properly with the fat in the butter. Adding eggs en masse may cause the emulsification to fail.

Use a bottom rack

Too much heat may compromise the integrity of the cookies. The food experts at Delish say to try moving cookies onto a lower rack in the oven if they aren’t retaining their shape when baked. Put an empty cookie sheet on the top rack.

That will block the cookies from the most intense heat that rises to the top of the oven.

Mastering cookies takes a little patience and some trial and error. Once bakers get their feet wet, baking Christmas cookies becomes even more special.

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Making “I would like to get through most

neighborhoods at least

once so that everyone in

town will get to enjoy it.

I hope it makes people in town very happy.�

Merry A Holiday Tradition Returns to Emporia B y H o l l y H o l l e n b e ck Ph o t o s b y Dave Le iker

A

past Emporia Christmas tradition is returning to town this year. The Thomas Transfer calliope will once again fill the air with music this holiday season.

The Emporia fixture first graced the town with its music in 1980 after Jerry Thomas, who was the owner of Thomas Transfer and Storage, Inc. at the time, found a calliope in one of its storage units.

“It had been abandoned here,” said Nancy Thomas, current owner of Thomas Transfer.

“I don’t know how long it had sat in our storage, maybe 20 years or more before we pulled it out.”

WINTER 2019 | 17

The story goes that many years before, a circus came to town, and it was held on the property where Thomas Transfer now sits. While in town, the circus went bankrupt and equipment was left behind, including a calliope. Some of the equipment eventually ended up in Thomas Transfer storage, where it stayed until Jerry found it and pulled it out.

“My father really loved putting together Christmas floats every year for the (Emporia Christmas) parade,” said Jerid Thomas, Jerry’s son.

When Jerry saw the calliope, he knew he wanted it to go on his float. But the family soon discovered the old merry-go-round calliope was in need of some major repairs before it would work again.

“We put some feelers out

to see if anyone could repair it,” Nancy said. “We found out that it had lots of problems, and it was going to take a long time to repair. So we decided to trade the one from storage for one that worked.”

And that’s the beginning of how a calliope became an Emporia Christmas tradition that brought cheer to the citizens in town for more than 20 years.

“I remember this year — the parades were always fun,” said Jerid, pointing to a photo of the 1985 Thomas Transfer float in a family photo album.

He was 9 years old at the time.

“As you can see, we had the calliope on there along with an outdoor scene with a snowmobile and an indoor scene with a Christmas tree and everything.”

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The float was so big that year they had to use a double flat-bed trailer to hold it all.

“Dad always went so over the top with the floats,” Jerid said. “I think that was my favorite year. I remember riding on the float and wearing earplugs because the calliope was so loud.”

But the calliope usually made more than just a Christmas parade appearance during the holiday season.

Most years, the Thomas family as well as their employees drove the calliope through neighborhoods in town, playing Christmas music for everyone to enjoy.

“Someone would take it out most nights and drive through the neighborhoods from mid-December through Christmas Eve,” Nancy said.

“But we would always wrap it up around 8:30 every night so it wouldn’t interfere with kids’ bedtimes. It became a Christmas tradition for our employees to drive it around, too.”

Larry Lyons, general manager of Thomas Transfer at the time, was one of the employees who drove the calliope. He first volunteered to drive the truck in 1983 and still has fond memories of children and families coming outside to listen to the music as he drove down their streets.

Sometimes they even brought out hot cocoa to keep them warm as they listened, and the kids often danced to the music as he drove by.

He said it was important to drive no more than three miles per hour to give everyone enough warning to come

outside and hear the music (it was so loud it could be heard from two miles away).

“It was something the family and employees really enjoyed and took a lot of pride in,” Jerid said. “That’s been missing for the last 10 plus years or so.”

Over time, the cold, wet weather took its toll on the calliope. It had always been uncovered in the back of a truck or trailer when in use, and it started to not work and sound as good as it once had.

“We always got it out as long as it worked,” Jerid said. “But it got to where it wouldn’t work when it was cold or wet outside, and the music reel wouldn’t rewind on its own anymore. It also took a lot of work every year to get it loaded onto the truck and get it strapped down well. It was not an easy task.”

He wasn’t sure what year Thomas Transfer retired the calliope from its holiday duties, but said it was before his father died in 2011.

“He really loved the calli-

ope, so we did manage to get it out one more time and play it during his funeral, but that was all,” Jerid said.

The family soon learned Jerry wasn’t the only one in town who had a great fondness for the calliope.

“So many people would ask me about it,” Nancy said. “But there was just so many things wrong with it. It needed so much repair. It was hard to know what it needed so we could get it out and about again.”

It’s not like there is a calliope repair shop on every street corner, and the Thomases were at a loss for how to fix the machine. But the calls and questions from residents persisted, often asking how they could help bring the calliope back to the streets of Emporia.

“I always got one or two calls every year asking about it,” Jerid said. “People would ask how they could help with getting it going again, even offering to put up a GoFundMe page and other things to

help us out.”

So not long after Christmas last year, Jerid decided to do some research to find a restoration company with experience repairing calliopes.

“It was just really cool that people loved it so much and were really invested in getting it going again,” he said.

Google didn’t let him down.

As soon as the calendar turned 2019, he found Dan Dohman, owner of Miner Company, LLC, in Kirksville, Missouri. Dohman has worked on calliopes for more than 30 years and was happy to take a look at it. His company pretty much rules the market in the Midwest.

“I quickly realized it wasn’t one that I had built,” Dohman said. He guessed the calliope to be around 40 years old.

“But I knew I could repair it.”

Dohman said it took him about 12 to 15 hours to get the calliope working well again.

“I had to do a rewind motor replacement,” he said. “I also fixed it so that it would have more air pressure control. A

few of the whistle tops needed complete replacement as well as about a half dozen key covers, among other small things.”

After making sure the calliope sounded good again, he made sure it looked better than ever before, too. Dohman spent another 20-25 hours re-decaling, shining and buffing it.

Jerid decided the much-improved calliope deserved new wheels, too, so he had Dohman custom build a Thomas Transfer trailer with an overhead roof to better protect the instrument. No more loading and unloading are required now, as the trailer is the calliope’s permanent home. It also hooks up to the back of a truck for easy transport.

“The trailer took me a couple of weeks to complete,” Dohman said. “I also installed the calliope in the trailer and hooked it up to a portable generator. In total, the project took me almost a month to complete.”

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Returned back home to Emporia in March, the calliope is now able to play the 10 to 15 reels the family has always had better than ever before. But the songs are not all holiday songs.

In addition to a few Christmas songs, the reels feature a limited playlist of carnival, gospel, patriotic and school fight songs.

It is something Jerid hopes to possibly expand one day.

“I found out you can now upgrade the calliope to fit it with a USB so you can have access to more songs, but that’s going to take additional

money to do,” he said.

With the calliope restored, Jerid has big plans for it this holiday season. It will be a part of the Emporia Christmas parade this year, like in the past, and he plans to bring back the tradition of driving it around town again.

“I would like to get it out at least once a week during the holiday season,” he said. “I would like to get through most neighborhoods at least once so that everyone in town will get to enjoy it. I hope it makes people in town very happy.”

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Tips for successful office Secret Santa exchanges The holiday season provides plenty of opportunities to socialize. Holiday celebrations are sometimes akin to family reunions, but friends also tend to celebrate together in December. Such celebrations sometimes include different groups of friends, and that may require hosts to do a little extra to break the ice so everyone relaxes and has a good time.

Secret Santa gift exchanges can make for a great ice breaker, even if guests are buying gifts for people they don’t know.

If you plan to make Secret Santa part of your holiday party this year, consider these tips to ensure it goes off smoothly.

Start planning early. Hosts likely know everyone coming to their party, so they should take the lead and organize the Secret Santa exchange. Let guests know as early as possible, even including the information in the party invitations, so they have time to shop.

Make it optional. Forcing peo-

ple to mingle and exchange gifts is never a good idea. Give guests the option to participate ask them to indicate if they will or won’t when they RSVP. Set a reasonable gift limit. Figure out a budget that works for everyone. There are plenty of gifts to be had for $20 and under. Gag gifts or “dollar store” gift themes can ensure no one goes overboard in terms of dollar value.

Consider a wish list. Asking participants to fill out wish lists ensures that their Secret Santa buddy will have an idea where to start shopping.

Enlist a digital helper. Technology can make organizing Secret Santa exchanges even easier. Elfster is an online gift exchange app that can help hosts effectively organize their Secret Santa parties.

Fun is key to Secret Santa exchanges, so make sure to keep things lighthearted when planning the party and exchanging gifts.

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Many people have fond memories of time spent around the Christmas tree sharing gifts and family traditions. Live trees and their pine-like aroma can be especially nostalgic trees to include in holiday plans. The National Christmas Tree Association says that approximately 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States every year. North American trees hail from all 50 states and areas of Canada.

While freshly cut trees can be particularly beautiful and aromatic additions to the season, they require a bit more work than artificial trees in order to remain beautiful and thrive throughout the holiday season. Maintenance can help keep Christmas trees as perfect as possible.

• Even though it is tempting to buy a real tree as early as possible, their shelf life is limited even with the best care. Dural Christmas Tree Farm advises that, under the best conditions, a real tree should last up to four weeks before drying out.

• Consider the needles when looking for a real tree. Pull your hand toward your body along the branches. If many needles fall off, the tree is past its peak.

• Think about the room in which the tree will be located. Leave

at least 6 inches between the tip of the tree and the ceiling, accounting for the height of the tree stand as well.

• If needle retention is a goal, the Scotch pine variety has the best needle retention and a high survival rate, lending to its popularity, offers Precision Tree and Landscape. Douglas fir and balsam fir are other durable trees.

• If possible, buy a freshly cut tree from a reputable nursery or tree farm, advises The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Many precut trees sold elsewhere were likely cut weeks before and may not be fresh.

• Cut the bottom of the tree trunk before bringing it home to facilitate the uptake of fresh water daily. Trees can absorb as much as a gallon of water in a day, so make sure the tree gets fresh water every day.

• Keep trees away from as many heat sources as possible and away from direct sunlight to prolong longevity.

• According to Karabin Farms in Connecticut, to make a Christmas tree last longer, boil a gallon of water and then dissolve one cup of sugar in the water.

Allow to cool. After freshly cutting the trunk, pour in the warm sugar water. Continue to add fresh, cool, plain water to the tree stand afterward.

Once needles begin to fall off with frequency, the tree is reaching its prime. Remove it so it does not become a fire hazard.

Christmas tree recycling When choosing a real Christmas tree for holiday celebrations, consumers should think about the many ways that trees can be repurposed after the holiday season. Some towns collect discarded trees to use them for various purposes. However, homeowners can get in on the action as well. The Old Farmer’s Almanac offers these great ideas for post-holiday tree use.

• Prop up the tree near a bird feeder to provide another perch and shelter to birds that stick close to home in winter, such as chickadees and finches.

• String the tree with various treats for birds and put it in a sheltered location. Ideas include homemade suet, cranberries and millet.

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• Mulch the tree and use it in the garden in the spring.

• Use boughs to insulate perennials in the garden.

• Keep some branches to use as kindling in a wood stove or fireplace, or as aromatic logs for next year’s yule fire.

• Sink an old tree in a personal pond. Fish and tadpoles will live and lay eggs around this sheltered area.

• Collect some pine needles and sew them into fabric packets to make scented sachets for closets or drawers.

There are many imaginative ways to come up with handy uses for Christmas trees once the holiday season ends.

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Wrapping gifts is a very old tradition

Did you know?

Some holiday traditions, such as holiday lighting displays, are impossible to miss, while others are more subtle and possibly even unknown to many celebrants. One tradition that falls into the latter category involves the placing of oranges into Christmas stockings. The origins of Christmas stockings are rooted in legend, and one of the more popular tales involves a widowed father of three beautiful girls. According to Smithsonian.com, this father was struggling to make ends meet and was concerned that his financial struggles would affect his daughters’ ability to find a spouse. As the legend goes, St. Nicholas was wandering through the man’s town and heard of his concerns. Recognizing that the man was unlikely to accept charity, St. Nicholas slid down the chimney of his house and placed three gold balls in the girls’ recently laundered stockings, which were hanging by the fire to dry. The value of the gold balls, which were discovered the following morning, was enough to ensure the girls could eventually wed.

So what does that have to do with oranges? Those who wanted to replicate the tale could not so easily come upon gold balls to place in stockings, so they chose something similar in appearance: oranges.

The holiday season is rife with tradition. One of the most recognizable traditions involves wrapping gifts. While the wrapping paper many gift givers use today is a relatively recent phenomenon, the tradition of wrapping gifts is centuries old, with some historians even suggesting it dates back to ancient times. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis® notes that many ancient cultures celebrated various holidays that included exchanging gifts, adding that it’s very likely that, even in ancient times, gifts were wrapped to surprise their eventual recipients. Bojagi is a traditional Korean wrapping cloth that might have begun being used some time during the Three Kingdoms of Korea period, which began in 57 BC and ended in AD 668. The Japanese tradition of furoshiki, which can be traced back to the 17th century and possibly as far back as AD 710, involves using a traditional wrapping cloth to transport certain items, including gifts. As for the gift wrap familiar to today’s holiday celebrants, that traces its origins to the early 1900s. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis® notes that Eli Hyman and Morris Silverman founded the first gift wrap company in the United States in 1903. Unfortunately for gift givers back then, adhesive tape had not yet been invented in 1903, and wouldn’t be for another 27 years.

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Tips for safe holiday entertaining in pet-friendly households Lola wants everyone to remember your pets for the holidays!

The holidays are a time to spend with friends and family.

Celebrating and entertaining are large components of what makes Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, and New Years festivities so enjoyable. Holiday hosts with pets must consider companion animals when planning the festivities.

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The holiday season brings added dangers for pets. The American Veterinary Association notes that, by keeping hazards in mind, pet owners can ensure their four-legged friends enjoy the season as much as everyone else.

Secure the tree. Securely anchor the Christmas tree so that it won’t tip over on anyone, including rambunctious pets. Also, stagnant tree stand water can grow bacteria. If a pet should drink the water, it may end up with nausea or diarrhea. Replenish the tree basin with fresh water daily.

Skip the candles. When creating mood lighting, opt for electronic or battery-powered lights instead of open flames. Pets may knock over candles, and that can be an instant fire hazard.

Keep food out of reach. Situate food buffets beyond the reach of hungry and curious animals.

Warn guests to promptly throw out their leftovers so that dogs and cats do not sneak away with scraps that may cause stomach upset or worse. Real Simple magazine warns that fatty foods can promote pancreatitis — a potentially dangerous inflammation of the pancreas that produces toxic enzymes and causes illness and dehydration. Small bones can get lodged in a pet’s throat or intestines as well.

Avoid artificial sweeteners.

Exercise caution when baking sugar-free desserts. The artifi-

cial sweetener xylitol can cause dogs’ blood pressure to drop to dangerously low levels. Xylitol is found in some toothpastes and gum, so tell overnight guests to keep their toiletries secure to avoid accidental exposure.

Be cautious with cocktails. If the celebration will include alcoholic beverages, the ASPCA says to place unattended adult beverages where pets cannot reach them. Ingested alcohol can make pets ill, weak and even induce comas.

Be picky about plants. Mistletoe, holly and poinsettias can be dangerous in pet-friendly households. These plants can cause gastrointestinal upset and may lead to other problems if ingested. Opt for artificial replicas instead. If guests bring flowers, confirm they are nontoxic to pets before putting them on display.

Watch the door. Guests going in and out may inadvertently leave doors open. In such instances, pets who get scared or are door dashers may be able to escape the house. Put a note by the door to watch for escaping pets.

Designate a safe space for pets. If the holiday hustle proves too much for cats, dogs, birds, and more, give the pet a safe, quiet spot away from the crowds.

Holiday hosts should factor in pet safety when they open their homes to guests.

How to make holiday wreaths the easy way There are many different ways to decorate homes and businesses for the holidays. Tall evergreen trees are among the most visible symbols of the holiday season.

However, wreaths hung on doors, windows or fences also are ubiquitous this time of year.

Wreaths adorn homes primarily during the holidays of Easter and Christmas. Wreaths have also been worn around the head or neck in ceremonial events around the globe for centuries.

It is believed the first wreaths date back to ancient Greece and Rome. Members of the Greco-Roman society were known to hand-make ring-shaped items using fresh tree leaves, small fruits, flowers, and twigs. Oftentimes these headdresses symbolized a person’s social status.

Others suggest wreaths evolved to become a Christian symbol of immortality.

Regardless of how wreaths are viewed, many people like to display wreaths for the holidays. Wreaths can be purchased premade, but making a wreath on your own can make the holidays even more fun.

One of the easiest ways to make a wreath is to design it around a circular floral foam form. Gather supplies to make the wreath. For traditional wreaths, supplies will include sprigs of evergreen (real or artificial), ribbon, floral wire, bows, and artificial berries. Working around the foam form, arrange the boughs of evergreen, using the floral wire to wrap or pin into the foam itself. Keep the layers coming until you get the desired coverage. Embellish with a ribbon or place a bow.

The blog A Piece of Rainbow says that creating a wreath jig is an easy way to make a wreath.

Cut a dollar-store laundry basket bottom from the top ring to make a template, on which you can place wreath-making materials so they keep their circular form. Use floral wire or natural jute string to tie the materials together. Experiment with fresh evergreen, twigs, holly branches, or whatever materials you choose.

Thick card stock also can serve as the wreath template. Attach artificial flowers or leaves, spray snow, ornaments, or other items to the card stock ring with a firm adhesive.

Many craft stores sell wreath forms made of natural vines that have been strung in a ring.

These can be decorated in their entirety or left a little sparse to let the natural twine show through.

Wreaths may seem like complicated creations. But a little imagination and the right materials is all it takes to create a homemade wreath.

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