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DECORATING FOR THE HOLIDAYS WITH YOUR CHILD
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Each year as the holidays steadily approach,
my daughter begins to pester me about hauling out
all our decorations.
If you are like my family, these include not only hand-me-downs from
my
parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles but also a myriad of knickknacks
acquired at gift shops
over the last twenty years. And retrieving the
boxes of decorations from their inaccessible
location in our disorganized
basement is no small task.
Last year at this time, I made a drastic decision.
We are not going to put out all our decorations.
Though it was hard
to resist, we did not unpack the snow globes, the fake snow, the felt
animals
my Aunt brought back from Australia, or the little Santa figurines
from my childhood collection.
I only brought out the boxes with my family's
most cherished decorations and left the rest to
gather more dust in
the basement.
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Instead of cluttering my house with old, and
sometimes deteriorating ornaments that I felt
obligated to display,
we decided to make our own new decorations with which to fill our house.
We found several craft ideas we liked and we also developed some of
our own. Hopefully, you
will like these decorating projects and will
do them with your family.
(All of these projects require parent supervision
and involvement.)
Project One: Popcorn Chain
This project is probably familiar to many. Though
it is time-consuming, the results are beautiful.
· Simply pop as much un buttered, unsalted
popcorn as you can.
· Using a needle, poke a neat hole through the popcorn, and string
it onto a long length of thread.
My daughter and I did this activity while watching
Christmas movies and cartoons.
We did several lengths at different times and then tied them together.
We had
enough chains to put around the tree and to make into garlands.
Project Two: Gold Pinecones
A great thing to put on the mantle or under
the tree are shimmering gold pinecones.
My daughter and I found several
pinecones in our front yard and a nearby park. If you
don't live in
an area with pine trees you can find pinecones at your local craft store.
· First, we gently cleaned off the pinecones
with a plastic bristled brush.
· Then we took gold paint (or silver) and painted the edges of
the pinecone. Be aware that this should be
done carefully;
pinecones have many sharp
edges!
· As a final touch, you can sprinkle gold glitter on the pinecones
to give them an extra sparkle.
Project Three: Wax Ornaments
This is a great way to use up all those broken
crayon scraps!
· First, collect your crayons. I used mostly
green, red and yellow (for stars.)
· Then, using a cheese grater or pencil sharpener, grate the crayons
into small flakes.
· Next, you will layer the flakes between two sheets of wax paper,
laying out the flakes in a holiday design
of your choice. We did little green Christmas trees in a triangle
shape, yellow stars, and Christmas holly.
· Make sure to put either a paper towel or rag both underneath
the wax paper and on top of the wax
paper.
· Finally, place a hot iron on top of the paper towel until the
wax melts together.
· When the wax is cool you can cut around the outside edge of the
paper into appropriate shapes. The wax
paper needs to be touching to create a secure seal around
the crayon. Make sure that you do not try to
cut through the melted crayon because it may crumble.
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