Yesterday I mentioned a Christmas party we had with our homeschool friends. My friend, Kelli, hosted the event and did an amazing job planning and orchestrating a rotation of activities to accommodate our large number of kiddos! She arranged areas around her home for four stations: story, craft, cookie decorating, and games. She took care of the story time and asked three more of us mamas to take the other stations. I was assigned the craft station, so I planned a craft that would go along with the book Kelli would be reading in her station.
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston, is a heartwarming story about a little girl, Ruthie, and her parents living in the Appalachian. It was their family’s year to provide the Christmas tree for their village, but her father would have to go away to war that year, leaving Mama and Ruthie to wonder if he would make it back in time to deliver the tree for the village’s Christmas service.
Ruthie plays an angel in the service, so we made a craft that combined the tree with the angel. I took wood slices that my husband had cut and sanded, and I added an eye hook and some pine branch ribbon for a hanger. I did all of this before the party to save on time since we would only have about 15 minutes for each rotation. Then, at the party, the kids added their thumbprint angels in their choice of red or green (Ruthie’s angel dress was cream, but it would not have shown up as well on the wood, so I went with red and green.) My son and I did a sample ahead of time to show the kids. The size of the wood slice was perfect because it left room for them to add a word, such as “HOPE” or “JOY”, or the year, with a Sharpie marker. Their names were written on the back.
We had one group of older kids and I let each of them have a paintbrush to paint whatever they wanted because I wasn’t sure if 12-year-olds would still want to do their thumbprints. After the kids had been through all the stations, they had a pizza lunch waiting for them, so this allowed time for the paint dry. Before everyone left, I went back and added the angel halos and faces with a Sharpie marker…SINGING angels, of course!
Didn’t they turn out CUTE! These can also be done on a piece of paper with a stamp pad.
I have several blank ones left over so I think my daughter and I will paint some mangers or trees or something on them for our Christmas tree.
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My Ruthie loved this! She especially enjoyed the story that had her name 🥰 not many stories with Ruthie. Thanks for this craft; it will be special to look at their little thumb prints as they grow.
Aww! She was so cute when she came from Kelli’s story time and said, “Mrs. Alinda, the story is about me!” 🥰 It made me so happy for her. I’m so glad you have a matching set of the ornaments for all your kiddos. Charlie’s tiny handprint was so precious—-and I’ll always laugh when I remember his little tightly closed fist and all us mamas so determined to make it work! 😂