Christmas decorations and Christmas music REALLY bother me. Allow me to explain. It’s not that I dislike all things Christmas. On the contrary, I LOVE Christmas. But between the months of January and November, Christmas decorations should be packed away, awaiting that special day when they can emerge and enchant the young and old.
I think we need to establish the Holiday Zone: specific dates when Christmas decorations can be displayed, holiday music can be played in public and Christmas light displays can go live. I vote for the day after Thanksgiving through January 2nd. After that, it all has to go away until the next year.
I complain a lot when holiday decorations begin appearing among the orange and black Halloween things and when Thanksgiving is relegated to second class status to make room for the glitzy December holidays. If we stick to the Holiday Zone rules, I’d be a lot less cranky AND we wouldn’t be giving in to the retail industry’s never-ending desire for more profits. Before we know it, Christmas products will be making their debut as we celebrate the 4th of July!
It’s November 28th, a few days after Thanksgiving, so we are squarely in the Holiday Zone. I am happily breaking out the ornaments, cookie tins and lights. I’m about to pull out the gift bags, ribbons and family recipes. It’s time to celebrate. The anticipation has been wonderful and the wait is finally over.
So let the decorating, baking and crafting begin!
Here’s an easy and oh-so-quick Christmas ornament how-to:
Supplies:
- 6 strips of paper measuring 7″ x 3/8″
- Styrofoam balls, 2″ balls used for this example
- straight pins
- twine for hanging
- ribbon
- Optional: you can paint the Styrofoam balls before you add the paper strips
Step 1
- Poke a pin through the strips of paper and spread them out evenly
Step 2
- Push the pin through the Styrofoam ball.
Step 3
- Start bringing the strips up to the top, one at a time. I found it helpful to put a dab of tacky glue on each piece.
Step 4
- Poke the pin through the twine, then into the top of the ornament.
- Finish off by tying a ribbon just above the pin.
That’s it, you’re done! These make great hostess gifts or gifts for teachers, coworkers, relatives or for yourself. Use different kinds of scrapbook paper and ribbon to change the look and tone of these ornaments…you can go elegant, funky, child-inspired, animal prints…the choices are endless!
Don’t forget to spread the word about the Holiday Zone!
Send me pics of your ornaments!
