From Strings of Popcorn to Baubles and Beads

     Clara’s head jerked up as Gabriel plunked a scraggly spruce just inside the door of the bedroom. “What is that?”

     He flashed a grin as he knelt to tack a makeshift stand onto the trunk. “Surely you’ve seen a

Christmas tree before.”

     “Yes, but it looked nothing like that.”

     “Don’t be so quick to judge. There’s potential.” He glanced at his brother. “Remember that year Pa was away? We didn’t want to wait, so we went out ourselves. You must have been six or seven, and me maybe ten. I still remember the look on Mama’s face.”

    Probably because you saw it again when you hauled this tree past her. Clara bit her tongue.

    With no reply from Lawrence, Gabriel stood the tree upright and left. A few minutes later, he returned with a handful of nuts, a single candle, some string and clusters of crimson berries that he began to distribute amongst the branches.

     “Are those rosehips?”

     “We needed something to brighten this room.”

~Excerpt from I Heard the Bells, included in the anthology, A Bit Of Christmas~

'Tis the season, and many are rushing to set up their Christmas trees if they haven't already had them set up for the last month...or two (you know who you are). Live or artificial? Green or white? Topped

with a star, a angel...or something else?

In North America Christmas trees have only been a "thing" since about the 1830s. Still, from what I can tell, bringing a full tree into one's home was slow to take until 1848, when Prince Albert had one set up at Windsor Castle. The print of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria and their family around the tree appeared in the Illustrated London News. The fashion spread fast and by the 1850s Christmas trees had become a staple for the celebration of Christmas.

Christmas trees were at first decorated by what was available: nuts, strings of popcorn, fruit, dried fruit, candies and homemade trinkets. Then newspapers and magazines began to set the bar, offering ideas that soon made people want to set aside homey ornaments for sophisticated and uniform ones. Soon businesses stepped in, providing glittery baubles, wax figurines, and tin shapes in abundance, importing many from Germany.

This year, I decided to have fun with the kids and go back to homemade

ornaments. From paper chains, to cooked dough shapes. We also included little pictures of Christ...though I didn't necessarily make them, just poked a hole through the card-stock. :) We'll add the Popcorn chains tomorrow as I didn't think they would last very long around young children.

Maybe not the prettiest thing to look at, but we've been having fun. And that is one of the best parts about Christmas. 

I wish you all a merry Christmas and all the best in the new year! 

What did you decorate your tree with this year? Do you have a favorite homemade decoration?

Easy Christmas Ornament

Plastic canvas seashell ornament

 

When my mother-in-law died we found a plastic Christmas ornament in her things that everyone in the family wanted. To solve the dilemma, I took charge of the piece and deconstructed it to see how the make it, and made ornaments for the entire family. Once you get all the plastic canvas cut, it’s an easy project. But I will warn you, it you plan to make a lot of these, like I did, you’ll give yourself carpal tunnel using scissors if you don’t spread out the cutting of the plastic.

 

 

 

Here are the instructions for this lovely ornament.

 

Materials:

Round nose jewelry pliers

Wire cutters

Scissors

7 inch piece of 20 gauge wire.

14  3 3/16 L x 5/16W strips of plastic canvas (which works out to 21 openings in length and 2 opening in the width of the strip. Using alternate colors makes the design stand out.

Assorted beads and charms.

 

Directions:

1. Using round nose pliers, twist a small loop in one end of wire and attach a charm to the loop.

2. String one or two decorative beads on the remaining wire and add the 14 plastic canvas strips, threading them through the same opening on all strips.

3. Add a few more beads to the top to the wire.

4. Starting with the bottom plastic canvas strip, carefully thread the other end of the strip through the top of the wire. You will need to start with the beads and strips positioned at the top of the wire to do this without misshaping the wire. Repeat with all the strips, fanning them out into a sea shell shape as you go.

5. When all of the strips are threaded, add a few more beads the top of the wire.

6.  Twist a small loop in the wire at the top of the beads to hold everything in place.

7. Bend the top of the wire into a hook shape and hang on your Christmas tree.