Christmas Thoughts

The Women’s Insitutute (WI) published a small book in 2007, Practical Know-how at Christmas. Along with the hints, they included some timeless quotations about the holiday. Here are some of them:

Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.  (Anonymous)

Life is much like Christmas — you are more apt to get what you expect than what you want.  (Anonymous)

The Devil makes his Christmas pie of lawyers’ tongues. (English Proverb)

Q: Why is Christmas just like a day at the office?  A: You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit. (Anonymous)

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult every year. (E. B. White)

Heap on the wood — the wind is chill; but let it whistle as it will. We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.  (Sir Walter Scott)

Christmas Handmade Decorations for Little Hands

©2008, Ramona K. Silipo. All rights reserved.

One of the simplest handmade tree ornaments is a spiral. You can make them in different sizes by tracing different round objects– for instance, jar lids of several different sizes; or a teacup, a mug, and a saucer. The larger the circle, the longer the dangle from the tree branch.

You’ll need scissors, pencil, paper and items to trace. That’s all. You can add glitter if you don’t mind the mess, but I would forgo it with young children. It just gets everywhere, including in their mouths and up their noses which can’t be healthy for them.

Construction paper is the old standby. But good-quality, heavier gift wrap works very well and adds a bit more colour. Magazine covers are excellent, as they have body and lots of colour. Aluminum foil can be used, too, but may be best saved for older children who can cut through it more easily.

Trace the circle. Then simply begin at the edge, cutting round and round the edge, about 1/4 inch from the edge, until you reach the center. Leave the center about the size of a nickel so you can punch a hole for the hook or ribbon to hang it (or you can fold the end over the tree branch, but it doesn’t work a well as using and ornament hook).

Younger children might need you to draw a guide line for cutting, which can be tricky. If you show them how to cut, following the edge as the circle gets smaller, most children “get it” from watching.

Another easy decoration with circles is made by cutting one large circle, say, 3″ in diameter (a coffee mug size) and four circles slightly smaller (a tea cup size). For this you need construction paper or light card. Heavier magazine covers might work, too, if you want to experiment.  Fold the four smaller circles in half and make a cut in the vertical middle of the fold. Using the slit you cut, slide the four smaller circles on to the larger circle, spacing them evenly around the edge. Punch a hole near one edge of the larger circle for the hook or ribbon to hang it on the tree.

Don’t forget the old traditional stand-by, the paper chain. These are more colourful when made from gift wrap than construction paper.

Cranberries and popcorn are great to string for your trees outdoors. The birds will enjoy them, but you will have to remember to remove the thread after the berries are gone so the birds don’t get tangled in it.

For a slightly more sophisticated garland, you can use walnuts. For this you will need whole walnuts, eyepins (which you can find at crafts shops and stores that sell beads and jewelry findings), and narrow ribbon, yarn or cord in gold, red or green (or any colours you want).

You can leave the walnuts natural, or paint them gold or just give them a coat of clear gloss to dress them up. Put an eyepin in each end of each walnut. Thread ribbon or yarn through the eyes of two nuts, and tie a decorative bow leaving an oval of ribbon about an inch long between the two nuts. Make the garland any length you like.

To make ornaments from single walnuts, tie narrow ribbon or gold cord around them longwise. A dab of Elmer’s Glue-All at the bottom will help if you use satin ribbon or metallic cord and it’s slippery. Tie a loop at the top to hang it from the tree; or tie a bow at the top and use an ornment hook threaded through the knot to hang it.

Quakerly Christmas

©2008, Ramona K. Silipo. All rights reserved.

Friends (Quakers) have a testimony against holding special days (holidays), presumably based on the concept that each day is a blessing and that we should have one standard of behaviour for every day of the year. This means that many Friends do not celebrate holidays such as Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving (USA and Canada). However, many Friends do celebrate, albeit modestly in most cases. My home meeting in California, for instance, has a Christmas event presented by the children, followed by a pot luck meal. This year, there is carol singing each First Day for those who want to join in. And so on. As with all the testimonies, it is left to each person to discern what, if any, recognition of Christmas to express.

My experience, both before and after becoming a Friend, is that nothing in my personal or family Christmas traditions seems antithetical to living as a Quaker. As a matter of fact, I find that at Christmas time many people are more alert and open to answer that of God in everyone; and people are often more aware of their need to be generous, forgiving and patient with others. I see nothing negative in setting aside a specific time of day or year to stop and consider how one’s life might be more enlightened and enlightening.

My personal and family traditions are pretty simple: a nativity set from my childhood with candles lit each night, a tree decorated with homemade ornaments and old glass ones as well, inviting people with no family or friends in the area for dinner, and a Christmas Eve with closest friends at which we eat soup and bread for dinner, read Christmas stories and light candles to remember friends who have died during the year. (This began during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, when we lost several friends each year. We’d stand around the table, all too aware that one or two of us would probably not be there the next Christmas. Thank God, we haven’t had to light any candles  for many years now.)

Reading to each other and the children is a lovely bonding activity. Story telling is as ingrained in human history as music, and the stories of Christmas are always a joy to me. Stories are usually more symbolic than literal, so I don’t see that Christmas stories in the form of carols are a threat to good Quaker order in any way

For me, the joys in life are simple– friends, family, dogs (or other pets), good times, talking, laughing, music, theatre, art– nothing spectacular. At Christmas many of these joys are magnified and appreciated more. We all strive for the Quaker ideal of living in the Light every day, but, so far, I’ve not met anyone who’s achieved this ideal. Until we do, it seems not only appropriate but very positive to set aside times, like Christmas, to remember our best moments in life, reinforce long-cherished relationships, and create new opportunities to move forward toward the Light every day.