12 Days of Christmas: Day Six - Holiday Dish Craft

Christmas without you/ Christmas with you

by Cheli Blasco

**Read Cheli's 12 Days of Christmas Post HERE.**

I need little rituals.

I need gifts from the world.

It's how I keep my daughter close.

For the holidays, I wanted to do a small ritual every day. While we trim the tree, while we cook, wrap presents or read stories by the fire. While my husband plays that same Christmas carol CD for the upteenth time.

So I bought a dish.

Well... I bought three. The boys had one each, too.

And I decorated it. I used permanent markers and had a moment with my girl Luna.

Every night, or every day... whenever I need to feel her warmth, to connect with my baby and have a moment with her, I light a candle in its center.

During the day, on our walks, exploring, going places, I keep my eyes open. Some days I come home with a leaf, an acorn, a twig. Another day I wrote Luna a little love note. I made a red felt heart. I cut little stars out of shiny silver paper. It all goes around her plate. Luna's Christmas plate, decorated with love. Built little by little, as we wait for Christmas night. In the cold, dark, snowy night, I will again light that candle, get close, and say Namasté: I honor the light within you. I celebrate the divine in you. I love you, my girl. Thank you for creating this together.

If you want to be able to wash the plate multiple times, it might be a good idea to make the colors more permanent.

To do so, place your finished, decorated plate in a cold oven, set the temperature to 400 Fº/ 225 Cº degrees. Once it warms, time it for about 30 mins. Let oven cool without taking your plate out (all this will keep it from cracking from abrupt changes in temperature). Once cooled, remove from oven. It is now super permanent (washing by hand is recommended over dishwasher use).

Some of the colors change, thought they remain vibrant and pretty:

Red turns yellow

Green turns blue

Orange turns a slightly redder hue

Blue turns a silvery yellow shade

Light blue turns a nice dark green

Gold, silver, purple, pink and brown remain the same.

~ ~ ~

I am Cheli Blasco. I was born in Argentina. Later, I moved to NYC to get a degree in Comparative Literature and, ultimately, a husband. In Madrid, Spain, I became a mother and a doula. My two homeschooled boys keep me happy and partly crazy. Our third child, our daughter Luna, was born at 26 weeks and 5 days gestation. From the very beginning we learned that she had a syndrome that, in her case, was incompatible with life. She was born at home in a beautiful and loving birth that was heart-wrenching and healing. My blog is dedicated to her, and to everything that I am slowly learning as I mother her pure soul. 

Cheli is also a regular contributor for Still Standing Magazine.