Experiencing Christmas decoration withdrawals along with the arrival of Valentine’s Day–and more importantly Anna’s birthday–it was once again time to decorate the house. Anna was somewhat surprised to discover that I had actually made tissue paper pom-poms when I was a young girl…  so many long years ago… when you could not even buy kits from which to assemble the delicate puff balls. With a refresher course courtesy of “youtube” I was well on my way toward rediscovering an “ancient craft” from my youth. It seems everything eventually makes a comeback and tissue pom-poms are no exception.

Armed with paper from the craft store and a large open (as in no clutter) work surface, Anna and I began tackling our tissue paper creations. They are incredibly easy although somewhat tedious with all the accordion style folding, but in the end we achieved success and now have numerous pom-poms hanging throughout the kitchen. Anna folded, I gingerly and ever-so-carefully separated individual layers of delicate tissue to create the puffs, and Anna hung them for all to enjoy. Let it be said… just because a 5’2″ girl can easily walk underneath hanging pom-poms without her head touching them, it does not mean six foot tall brothers can do likewise. So until Valentine’s Day passes or we are ready for a change in decor certain members of the family dodge the tissue puffs whenever making their way through the kitchen. We’ll just have to wait and see “who” holds out the longest–the tissue pom-poms or the family members that continually adjust their path in order to maneuver around the dangling delights.