Gifts of Christmas Past (homemade gifts from last year)

The pics aren't the best, I just snapped quick pics of them, not intending to use it on my blog. Sorry they aren't better pics.

I made snowman kits, using top hats I got from Oriental Trading as the item holder (and we melted two small holes so they could be attached to the snowman with chop sticks lol, I got fake carrots at micheals for the nose, buttons for eyes and so on...cut out scarves from felt, very easy, and inlcuded hot chocolate packets for everyone in the family and got peppermint stirers with chocolate on them from gertrude hawk to include also and some mini marshmallows..all put together in a cut fashion and then put in the hat, and into a cellophane bag and tied with ribbon.
Every family got one..including the grandparents, as you are never too old to go out and build a snowman.

The spider ornaments I made with pearly beads.
I also made snowflakes made with glass beads, they look great hanging in the window. We make them in a bunch of colors and with swarovski crystals too. Dont' mind my scratched up table lol. we live here. The pic is blurry and we did make more also, some had red eyes, as my son wanted to do that...they are adorable.

I gave them in a little chinese food shaped box that was decorated for Christmas I got at Target, and they were stuffed with tinsel and the spider sat on top of the tinsel in the box. I attached this story to it and gave each family one to open, and while they opened it, I had the man of the house read the story to the children (my dad at his house, and step dad at his) here is the story that goes along with the spider...

THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS SPIDER
(A folk legend from Germany and the Ukraine)

Once upon a time, long ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year.... The day on which the Christ child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had been banished from their cozy corner in the ceiling to avoid the housewife's busy cleaning. They finally fled to the farthest corner of the attic.

T'was the Christmas eve at last! The tree was decorated and waiting for the children to see it. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the Christ child's visit. But the oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could peep through the crack in the door to see him. Silently they crept out of their attic, down the stairs, and across the floor to wait in the crack in the threshold. Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit and quickly the spiders scurried into the room. They must see the tree closely, since their eyes weren't accustomed to the brightness of the room... so the crept all over the tree, up and down, over every branch and twig and saw every one of the pretty things. At last they satisfied themselves completely of the Christmas tree beauty.

But alas!! Everywhere they went they had left their webs, and when the little Christ child came to bless the house he was dismayed. He loved the little spiders, for they were God's creatures too, but he knew the mother, who had trimmed the tree for the little children, wouldn't feel the same, so He touched the webs and they all turned to sparkling, shimmering, silver and gold!

Ever since that time, we have hung tinsel on our christmas trees, and according to the legend, it has been a custom to include a spider among the decorations on the tree.

You can google to find tons of sites for directions to make the beaded spiders.

http://jewelrymaking.allinfoabout.com/features/spider.html

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/treeornaments/a/christmasspider.htm

http://www.flowersforthedead.com/xmas/spider.html


and so on..Have fun..

I also gave homemade beer bread in a canning jar with a beer.
I did a few other things, I am trying to think of what they were...we gave alot of little homemade things. It was fun.

don't mind this pic...i took it on my freezer in the basement lol..but its ornaments
we made in the past...just a few that I pulled out.

one final thing quick...we make candy canes with red and clear tri beads on a pipe cleaner...just put red, then clear then red then clear all the way down the pipe cleaner cut to whatever size you want it to be..then bend the ends to stop them from coming off and bend into a cane shape..they look great on the tree with the lights shine and make them sparkle. So easy, takes about 1 minute per candy cane! I don't have a pic, if I take one, I will add it, but I am sure you get the picture.