Hello Lovely friends! I thought I’d share a little bit of a hybrid garland with you today.
Yes. That was a weird sentence.
I decided to whip this up when a friend and I were talking the other day about ideas for our children in celebrating the real meaning of Christmas. So I decided to make a little project…
I already had these socks lying around when I picked them up from the point of purchase, bin from our local craft store this fall for about a dollar. (No, I’m not a total hoarder. Yes, I was tempted to keep these for my own feet.) Their original intent as sock puppets, these guys ended up serving another purpose.
I did a quick screen print on top with their monograms in a thick Helvetica to keep it simple. (For the full blown details on freezer paper techniques, check out our tutorial here.) All you need is a graphic to trace, a pencil, an Xacto, freezer paper, an iron, paintbrush + paint. I adore this process as one of my fave methods. ;} It’s addicting, to say the least.
When I was finished, I simply placed the socks on one of our spool garlands.
This garland is a bunch of really old fun spools we scored from a friend of ours. I simply strung them with some wooden beads on some twine, added the clips with socks and… tada! (Did you know they sell wooden spools? You can fake them as “old” by wrapping them with some fun twine if you wanted to make your own version with some beads. Check it out in the wood crafting section in any of your local craft stores!)
So what’s the point of these little stockings? We have a few days left before Christmas arrives, and we really try to focus on some of the more important stuff. We wanted to find a way for the elf ‘thing’ to work with the reason for the season. So we decided to make these stockings their little areas to receive various teaching items every morning until Christmas. Things like object lessons, and Bible verses. Something to discuss at breakfast or (if I’m being more realistic since my children are small zombies in the morning) dinner with the kids. For instance, maybe they’ll receive something simple like a star in their stocking, and we’ll ask them why they think they received a star. We’re hoping to spur a little conversation around here that has a more to do than just Santa. And presents. And receiving…
We’re working on it. Just a little something I thought would help, and get them excited about the other stuff. (The REAL stuff.)
What do you guys do to help with teaching your kids about the other aspects of Christmas? From giving to others, to celebrating Christ’s birth… We’re always looking for ideas, and we’d love to hear!
Have a wonderful weekend, awesome friends. Have an inspired day!
Anna says
Oh wow. I love this idea! I am going to have to try this with mine. I feel as though we do get really caught up in the glittery gifts aspect of Christmas. This is a great thing!
Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms says
What a great idea! I love anything that comes back to the reason of Christmas…especially in a fun way!
Ashley says
What a cute idea! You have inspired me! Thank you! Merry Christmas!
Bre @ ~roomsFORrent~ says
MOST adorable idea ever!! Love this for this kids… seriously one of the cutest christmas things I’ve seen!! SO pinning and saving for years to come! ~Bre
Miriam says
We started a ‘Jesse Tree’ tradition when our kids were older; wish we’d thought of it sooner, but we still love it. I made a set of ornaments for each child for Christmas one year, along with a permanent printed explanation (it’s on the computer, so when I add more, I can just reprint it for them) of how each one relates to the birth, death, and life of Christ and it’s ‘real life’ application. For example, I made clay staffs/shepherd’s hooks as a reminder that Jesus is the Great Shepherd, & uses His staff to protect & guide us. I started with about 12 ornaments, & I add one every year (that I come up with a new idea). We have a small 3 ft. tree I set up every Christmas called the ‘Jesse Tree’. My daughter does one too, & my son also has a set. We do a special time decorating the tree & read/discuss what each ornament stands for as we hang it. It’s also a great conversation starter for visitors, since the ornaments are a little unusual and inspire lots of questions! 🙂
Susan Tofteland says
Awesome idea…but I must be the only one so totally over with holiday crafts and decorating by now. Or am I the only non-procrastinator? When my children were young and all their friends had “gone over the hills and through the woods to Grandmother’s house” on Thanksgiving, we did our holiday decorating while our turkey cooked. We have kept that tradition. To be making decorations now, means not much time to enjoy them. I wish bloggers would post earlier, so we can make decorations BEFORE the season and decorating starts…
Rebekah T says
We do a “Jesse Tree” advent devotional from my childhood church (that my mom’s church just updated this year). It has a short devotional each day and a bag with ornament that cooresponds to the devotional. It comes the coming of Christ from Genesis through his birth over 25 days. So great! We also try to give small gifts (cookies, homemade pickles, etc.) to our close neighbors and have the kids help. But it always a struggle with kids to get them NOT to think about themselves and what they are getting. If I’m honest…it’s hard for me to…that sinful nature keeps getting in the way. Good thing I get to hear the advent devotionals again each year too!!!
tara says
I absolutely love this idea….pinned it for next year!
We’ve done the advent calendar for years…
we try to bake goodies for neighbors to love on them….
we love to go to our church’s Christmas Eve service….
this year we are buying Christmas for a family in need…it’s fun to let our kids pick out what they want to give.
It’s such a hard balance…giving gifts to our kids at Christmas while trying to maintain the right focus on Christ….
katie says
just deliberating over this one myself.
hard to know what to do.
this is simple and a great idea!
thank you.
Jen says
Now aren’t those the cutest stockings I have ever seen!?
Adorable.
Happy holidays!
Jen