Hi All! I don't know about you, but there is something about the holiday season that slows me down a bit. With all there is to do and prepare, I find myself taking my time with no particular rush. My little ones and I have thoroughly been enjoying some later mornings in our pjs, having picnic breakfasts on the floor of our basement while we watch Christmas movies, and then getting dressed with no particular agenda for the day and seeing where the wind blows us. I try to spend a few quiet moments with the Lord every morning before my kids wake up. Sometimes I just sit and look out the window and pray about things on my heart. Sometimes I crack open a devotional and/or read my Bible. Lately, I've enjoyed going through an advent devotional that started December 1 and goes until December 25. It was given to me and at first I wasn't so sure I'd get a whole lot from it; I thought it would just go slowly through the events leading to the birth of Jesus. But, there is less emphasis on how He was born, and more on why He was born.
Joy. Pure, uninhibited, free joy.
Jesus had to be born a human man in the flesh so that he could die with our sin. And, "if we do not need to fear our last and greatest enemy, death, then we do not need to fear anything. We can be free: free for joy, free for others." Pastor John Piper
I guess you could say joy is the root of my recent laziness. There is not a whole lot I feel like doing but bask in the gifts that God has lavished over my undeserving self. Four of them, in particular - my husband and our children. There is so much that our kids are amazed over at this time of year, and all I find myself doing is sitting back and watching them with a renewed sense of amazement myself.
Today, I have an 'unplanned' One A Week Christmas DIY project to share. Early last week the star tree topper that my husband and I picked together for our first Christmas broke. It made me a little sad; it wasn't anything spectacular, but I have wonderful memories of our first Christmas together. Our first Christmas tree didn't have a lot of ornaments, but it had a bright, lit up star that we had picked out. For its replacement, I tried my hand at making a star tree-topper out of a wire shirt hanger. It was an easy project that my kids enjoyed watching and sharing input.
Supplies:
wire hanger
twine
floral wire
Step 1: Unwind the hook of the hanger
Step 2: Straighten your wire hanger out
Step 3: Bend five 'fingers' in the wire
Step 4: Pull the 'fingers' around until your two ends meet, then wind the two ends together
Step 5: Tie an end of twine onto your star in a knot, then wrap the twine around the entire star, knotting again at the end
Step 6: Wrap some floral wire around an inset of the star a few times, then 'curl' it out, (the 'curl' will be where you slide it onto the top of your tree)
All finished!
So, the down side is that it's a bit hard to see against our white walls. But, it was a quick and easy replacement and gets the job done. At least for this year. :)
If you are up for sharing, please send photos of any of these, (or your own), Christmas decorating projects! I'm going to post them all the week of Christmas!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
~Chelsea
This post was originally published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.