Ruby and I are raiding the ribbon box for both decorations and presents. Our extended family are very keen on wrapping with ribbons and equally keen on re-using them. So from an early age we have all trained our toddlers to chase after them at family birthdays and Christmas.

Our ribbon stash is currently very much in demand for the following:

Tying homemade gingerbread biscuits to the Christmas tree.

Making our packages of homemade bath bombs look pretty

Tying around packages of Nigella’s Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies for gifts

I’m also planning to make Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s white and dark chocolate bark. Always inspirational when it comes to edible gifts, Hugh FW has lots of good ideas; in previous years I’ve mixed little jars of his Dukkah (an earthy egyptian mix of herbs, nuts and spices, good as a dip). This involves a good bit of pestle and mortar bashing, so is great fun with children.

I did have high hopes for lavender bags. We founds some very pretty material including some pink and gold sari material that Ruby was very taken with. It set me daydreaming as I’d bought it in Kerala a few years before she was born – it’s been in use in our house even longer than most of the ribbons. Ruby also started daydreaming though (about making puppets) and her enthusiasm for making puppets simultaneously with lavender bags combined with my sewing skills means it may be a project we need to resurrect after Christmas.

The new addition to our ribbon stash this year is the simple but pretty bakers twine from Pipii.

Love re-using all our favourite bits of ribbon and materials with all the memories that come with them though. It feels as much a part of our Christmas tradition as making the biscuits for the tree.

         

Recipe Ginger and Cinnamon Christmas Biscuits

350g plain white flour

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 level teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150g butter

175g golden syrup

150g raw cane sugar

Preheat oven to 180C. Sieve first 4 ingredients together into bowl and rub butter into them. Heat syrup gently until runny, add sugar and mix well. Add to dry ingredients and mix. Roll out (if it is too crumbly to roll you can add a spoon of milk). Use assorted Christmas cutters to cut stars, trees, gingerbread men, snowflakes etc and lay on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 15-20 mins. Leave on tray for 2-3 minutes, then lift off with a spatula and cool on a wire tray before decorating with icing, silver balls etc. If you want to hang them on the tree, make holes with a skewer before they cool and harden, ready to thread your bakers twine or ribbon through.