Now that the holiday season has passed and all of us are beaming with hopes for this year I took a moment to reflect on what I want for this year. As I was working at this handmade project I am about to present to you I was thinking about simplicity. I feel that I need to simplify things and keep my life as organized as possible. I gathered most of the materials that I needed for this wreath from the forest. By doing this a thought occurred to me: we have most of what we need in front of our eyes but it is our sight that we need to work on. Living in a world of abundance is about perspective and not about reality. Perhaps this might sound quite terrible for someone who is struggling in poverty yet I believe that opportunity is everywhere if we are determined to find it.

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I wish for all of you from this community to be able to find ways to simplify your life in 2025 and get to the essence of the things: what matters to you for real in your life?

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Now let’t get back to this very fun diy project that made my heart fill with joy. I used a non-stick pizza pan that I wanted to throw away as I slowly replace all of my kitchen accessories with natural material-made pans and a white plate that had a chip on the side. I decided to use them instead for this decoration.

A short video of the final project:

I worked on the central piece of the decoration. I wanted to create a little lovestory between the two birds with the idea that maybe next year I could add a little nest and perhaps some baby birds to the plate. First he comes to her, they fall in love and only after that they build their dream nest, right?

I started by using a hot glue gun to attach the moss and the pinecones. I used melted was from a candle as snow and also birch sugar. I glued the candle to the plate in order to make this as easy to transport. I also added some shrub in the beak of the male bird as a way to suggest that he is courting her. Pretty cute, right?

After finishing the central piece I started to used some fir that I collected for free from a shop that sold Christmas trees. I wanted to make it big and to allow the plate to be covered by the fir.

I felt proud to be able to make my own central piece for the Christmas table and to know that most of it was created with natural materials that were available for free.

A question for all of us to reflect on in 2025: what do you have for free in your life and you’re not using it yet at its fullest potential?