Simple Paper Wreath Ornament

One of the drawbacks of homeschooling for a not-so-crafty person like myself is that all the cute holiday activities and crafts that go with school have to be organized, supervised, and cleaned-up by MOM.  And since I'm "Mom" around here, we don't do a lot of those kinds of activities.

However, I am occasionally inspired.  So, armed with a memory from my own public school childhood and a couple of crafty blog posts fresh in my mind, we made a Christmas craft this year!

Behold!

The Simple Paper Wreath Ornament!

1. Download snowflake wreath design from www.papersnowflakes.com/wreaths. Print the wreath on the bottom half of 8.5x11 green cardstock. You might have to adjust the size of the wreath.

2. Fold paper in half with wreath on surface (see upper right in 1st picture). Cut around wreath being careful to cut both halves and leave a piece of the fold at the top.  Cut out inner circle of the wreath on the top half.  (See bottom right with girl's photo inserted).  Punch 2 holes in the top near the fold.

3.  Decorate your wreath! We used washable glitter glue.  It added a bit of 3 dimension, sparkle and fun.  These sort of squirt out the glitter glue when squeezed.  Let them dry for several hours.  How long will really depend on how thick your glitter glue is.  We let ours dry overnight just to be safe.

4.  Once they are dry, glue a photo on the inside so that your smiling face is looking out of the wreath.  Let the glue dry.

5.  Cut several inches of ribbon.  Insert the ribbon through the holes and tie a knot.  Now your ornament is ready to hang!


I'd love to see what you make with these instructions!!

Merry Christmas 2009!!

Merry Christmas!

This year we've enjoyed a slow and lazy Christmas.  Our family opened part of our gifts Christmas Eve.  We started this tradition a couple of years ago as a way to help us focus more on Jesus and less on our presents.  (We don't do Santa but that's a whole other post.)  We'll finish opening gifts Monday morning with Joel's parents (who arrive late Sunday night).

We really had a non-traditional celebration this year!  Domino's "catered" Christmas Eve supper and Christmas Day lunch.  Joel scrambled eggs and toasted bagels for Christmas breakfast.  And I whipped up a batch of Creamy Chicken Enchiladas for Christmas dinner.  Who needs a pecan pie and fudge to have a "real" Christmas?

Even though we were a little off the beaten path for our meals, we did follow our tradition of giving each boy a tool.  Sam received a tape measure; Will received a level and hex wrenches; and Ben received a set of crescent wrenches.  Don't they look ready to help Daddy?

All in all, it was a restful and happy day together as a family.

Preparing for Christmas 2009

Here's what we've been doing to prepare for Christmas 2009.

I made this wreath (my first EVER) at MOPs in early December.

It's hanging on the door leading from the breezeway into my kitchen.

We also decorated our Christmas tree

the weekend after Thanksgiving.  A rare thing for us!

Nativity ornaments on our Christmas tree

remind us of the reason we celebrate.

Ornaments for past Christmas Celebrations

remind us people and places we have loved.

Ornaments to remind us of our fun Maine 2009 vacation
and a fun Christmas activity from the past.

We attended the Home School Co-op Drama Classes program.  Ben and Ellie are singing a cute song with other kids from the 5 and Under Class.

Will is pretending to be a bird in a skit about the Parable of the Sower.

Joel and the kids hung up Christmas lights for the first time ever!
This is 3 strands of lights that go up a flag pole at the corner of our garage, along the roof of the garage and breezeway, and down the corner where
the breezeway connects to the house.

One night we put the kids in their pajamas and drove around looking
at Christmas lights.  The kids were very confused about driving
around aimlessly!  We found TWO houses with lights set to music!!
I hope it was the beginning of a fun tradition.

We've read a lot of Christmas books.
Watched The Grinch (original version), Frosty the Snowman,
and The Muppets Christmas Carol.

Each night we've read part of the Christmas story from the Bible, a Children's Bible or One Wintry Night for our Jesse Tree readings.  The kids have taken turns adding an ornament to our tree each night.  I printed the Jesse Tree ornaments (the paper dove in the picture) from the internet last year.  Hopefully I'll have something better for next Christmas.

 

That's what we've done to prepare for Christmas.  

What have you been doing?