Our 2012 Christmas Ornament

Every year the children and I make an ornament during the Advent season. I wrote back in 2009 about our tradition and how much I enjoy it. In the past, I've avoided posting on the ornaments until after Christmas so they can be surprise for the recipients who happen to read the blog...but that usually means I'm posting about Christmas ornaments during Lent or Easter, so this year I decided to post right now before I get distracted. If you think you're on our ornament list and you want to be surprised, close your eyes! (I suppose it would be easier to simply not read this post.)

This year, I gave the children a few choices (all of which required only materials we had on hand) and they selected this Christmas tree. I was afraid it would not be very exciting, but of course Second Daughter figured out a way to glamor them up for us. We made this during our usual art time, so I didn't feel like I was adding anything to our schedule.

The instructions said to use four pieces of card stock (green for the front and back, different colors for the ornaments in the middle). I didn't have a lot of card stock, so we used mostly thin construction paper. It was still difficult for the children to punch the holes through three sheets of paper. First Son (8) could do it. First Daughter (6) could but she got tired at the end. Second Daughter (4) couldn't at all. (Second Son was napping; he was most helpful that way.)

I would make the trees for Second Daughter and then she added the "real" ornaments, culled from whatever struck her fancy in the craft box.

She likes to add glitter to things by trimming our sparkly pipe cleaners. It's effective, but a little messy.

Second Daughter adding sparkle

First Daughter struggling to hole punch

I think it would have been better if I had used card stock or painted cardboard, traced my Christmas tree ornament for them, then let them decorate it however they liked.

No matter how much we might struggle during the ornament creation, they always seem to work in the end. We have lots of ornaments to share with our family and friends! I printed out little pictures of the kids with our names and the year. I like to do that for myself so I can see their little faces and remember when we made each one, but I also think it's nice for teachers who might otherwise not quite remember us.

We generally give our ornaments to aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents, the families for whom we are godparents, teachers or other volunteers, parish priests, and anyone else who strikes our fancy until we run out. We always keep at least one for our own tree and I dearly love the little collection we have.

You can read my past posts on our ornaments:
- Our 2011 ornament
- Our 2010 ornament (These were one of my favorites!)
- Our 2009 ornament

Find all my Advent and Christmas ideas on my Pinterest board. I pin anything that strikes my fancy, so it's more than just ornament ideas.