Monday, December 19, 2011

Oh, Christmas Tree...


A long time ago,
before she gave birth to eight boys
and turned into a full time chef,
my sister used to cross-stitch.

Now she mends socks.

Actually, she does sew,
but it's mostly clothes for herself
to keep herself sane from all the sports talk.

But at one point
she cross-stitched onto this paper
and made this ornament:
I'm not sure how I got it,
but I have this vague recollection of finding it in one of her trashcans
when she was packing to move.

This is proof that I have trash-picking problems.

But it amazes me how this paper ornament has made it through many Christmases
and it makes me smile every time I pull it out of my ornament box.

she had a link party of home-made ornaments.
I'm late for it,
but as I looked at my tree
I realized there are a lot of memories
and home-made ornaments on our tree.
I wanted to do an "ornament" post last year,
but don't think I ever managed to get it done,
so
here it goes!


The same busy sister glued pieces of material onto blocks to make these:


My mom traced my kids' hands onto fabric one year 
and made these.
 
 I thought they were such a sweet idea!



My mother-in-law and I got together one year
before I had any kids yet,
 
 and tackled the important task of figuring out how to make
these pretty pin-studded bulbs
as we made a fun memory.


Violet and I collected these pinecones from one of our trees
a few years back.

She painted glue and glittered them
and then I helped ad ribbon to hang them.

She sold some at the craft sale
and I got to keep the rest.


I also got to keep the ornaments we made
from tiny clothespins.
 They were left-over from her 5th birthday princess party.
I made a bunch of these for the guests to chose from
as the pendants for the beaded necklaces they made.

 
 Perhaps we should ad wings to them!


 This year,
these snowman heads were the ornaments she chose to make:
 
 she was super happy she made her goal
by selling $13 worth of ornaments
(her goal was $10).

 I helped her with these a little because the "clay" I use to make the 
facial features is nasty stuff;
but it sticks the best.

We just got some cheap plastic ornaments,
base-coated them with white paint mixed with plaster Paris,
and then I added the features before she finished by rolling them in clear glitter,
and then painting their faces.

The extras came in handy for her church teachers.

I used the same "clay"
on my gourd ornaments:
for the snowman's face,


the penguin's beak,
and


the goose's legs and beak.

There are other ornaments that were left-over from past years as well
and it's fun to remember them.



 Levi even attempted to make some this year,
but he lost interest after base-coating his blue;
so Violet finished them off
and claimed the money for the two that sold
(thanks, Grandma!)

 I have lots of other fun home-made ornaments,
but I couldn't find them on this tree.
My daughter didn't want to hang all the ornaments on the tree
so she must have left some of those in the box.

Or they may actually be on there,...


 somewhere.

 Perhaps I'll do a post on them next year.


8 comments:

  1. I keep our new grandson while DD2 works. I am so going to trace his hand today and give her the ornament on Christmas! Love the goose - too cute!

    Dropping by from BNOTP. Happy holidays.

    Allison
    Atticmag

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  2. my favorites are your clever gourd ornaments. perfect! all are cute and precious treasures!

    (and God bless your sister!)

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  3. I'm nominating your sister for sainthood. 8 boys??? YIKES! ;o) Beautiful treasures adorning your tree - and some very special memories. Those little hand ornaments are precious that your mom made - and I'm so in love with your gourd ornaments.... ;o) And, wow - it looks like Santa came early to your house....that's a lot of packages under that tree!! Wishing you a wonderful holiday week ahead....Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin

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  4. I think artistic talent is in your family gene pool! Lovely treasures!

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  5. Christmas decorations with a story are by FAR the best!

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  6. I love those ornaments! They are amazing! Visiting from the Hop.

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  7. Eight boys! Thanks for sharing your memories and lovely photos. Have a good Christmas and I look forward to following you in 2012.

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  8. I love the homemade stuff best, too.

    =)

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