Making Christmas Ornaments

While we were working on our Advent Action card about fixing the broken ornaments on our tree, we discovered that many of them were beyond repair. Oh no! I set out to find some ornament tutorials to give us ideas to make our own. Here are a few of our favorites:

I loved this idea from Thrifty Mama- making your own ornaments out of fabric scraps! Of course, I love any idea which promotes re-purposing items we already have around the house, but I liked that this was an easy one for little hands and it can be used year after year. And did I mention that it's so pretty?

Go here for the full instructions.



 
Here's another fun one from Diamond In The Stuff...




















...and another take on that from Flea Market Style.




















If you don't like those, try this link to Everything Etsy, which has links to 100 different ornament tutorials. There's no excuse to have broken ornaments on the tree now!

The Power of the Ordinary

Before you read this post, watch this YouTube video. Really.

Why did you just do that? I'll tell you. That (really good) rendition of The Little Drummer Boy was performed by a teenager in Canada with no professional music experience. He performed the music himself, his little sister shot the video, and he edited the final piece on his laptop computer. He uploaded the video to YouTube and it "went viral" (had hundreds of thousands of views in a matter of days).

So why put this story on a blog about living a Christian life? It's not really the video that is the greatest part of this story, although it IS really good. No, I was so touched by this story and inspired to share it because of the reason Sean Quigley made the video in the first place: he was looking for a way to spread the word about the real meaning of Christmas. He is a Christian teen just trying to do his part to spread God's message using his own gifts and talents. Such a humble goal, with an inauspicious start, has now made international news headlines and has reached nearly one million people worldwide!

My point is this: anyone, including young people, can do amazing things with God in your corner. I encourage you to watch the video and to share it with others to help Sean inspire people everywhere with the true meaning of Christmas!

Click here to watch the news broadcast and interview with Sean Quigley. "I just want people to remember what Christmas is all about," he says in the interview. "It's not about Santa, it's not about presents. It's about the birth of Jesus Christ."

Photo Credit

Angel Craft

This one is for the younger set- preschool and kindergartners who like getting messy will appreciate this task!

For complete project directions go here.

Nativity Silhouette Art Project

This one is for older kids, or a younger child with a lot of grown up help. These are just so beautiful!

For complete project directions, go here.

Advent Task: Feeding the Birds

One of our Advent Action Cards this year was to create a birdfeeder to help our little bird friends on their way south... or more likely to help out the squirrels who are still around. :)

Today we are preparing our hearts for Jesus' coming by showing love and compassion to animals. Here's the link to our project this year!

A Holy Experience Free Gratitude Calendar

Normally I would have waited to share this link until after Christmas, when the "buzz" has died down some and we begin to reclaim some of the calm... and of course as we start to think about our New Year's Resolutions. I always welcome this time of year (I know, I'm nuts) because I really love the excuse to log a bit of time spent in prayer and personal reflection. I continue to be amazed at how God can build me up greater than I could ever be on my own, and I love to look for ways to try to build upon what He has given me... to remember who I have to thank for my many, many blessings in life.

Ann Voskamp is a blogger and author whom I adore, and who generously gives of her time and talent to share the purpose of God's word with the world. She's isn't Episcopal, but she shares her earnest struggle to be close as she can to God and live as much as she can in His light; I find her honesty and humility to be nothing short of inspiring. Check out her blog here, and check out her book, One Thousand Gifts here.

She is currently offering a free 12 month calendar of gratitude, complete with inspiring photography (hers) and scripture to help Christians to begin the new year with our priorities in line! I had to share the link so that anyone (like me) who needs that daily dose of God's word to help keep things in perspective could be sure to take advantage of her generous offer! You have to scroll down the page a bit to see the offer, but it's there and it's beautiful!

Enjoy!

Free Nativity Preschool/Kindergarten Download

There's a great free Nativity printables set at 1+1+1=1 this week. It's appropriate for tots, preschool and kindergarten, depending upon which activities you use. You print out what you'd like to use and not what you don't! We printed the whole set and found that there was a little something for everyone in our family included- even the baby found something to munch on! :)