Stella’s Homemade Christmas Decorations

While we spend money to buy expensive Christmas decorations each year, many children like Stella are happy making their own Christmas decorations. This is what we have been up to in the last few weeks. Stella was given an old table top Christmas tree and she had decided to have it placed in her bedroom.

The first thing we did was to straighten the tree because it was a little bent. After we chose a spot for it within her room, I discussed with her the kind of things we might want to make to decorate it. I wrote down what she wanted to make and the materials we needed. We go through this list before and after each Christmas craft session to prepare ourselves. (I think that Stella is starting to read very well because she is now starting to read what I write.)

We started with the tree topper. With great difficulty and with some help from me, Stella cut out the outline of a star on a piece of thick cardstock. While she painted the star yellow and added glitter using the glitter glue pens that she loves so much, I cut out a third of an empty toilet roll. I dressed this up with a layer of silver-foil. This ring was then attached to the back of the star with some sticky tape once the star’s decorated surface was dry. The ring helps the star to sit securely at the top of the Christmas tree. While we were waiting for the star to dry, I drew straight lines on coloured paper chosen by Stella for her to cut out strips. Stella concentrated hard to make sure that the strips she was cutting were straight. As I help her along, I explained that even though we were planning to make the garland (paper chain) the following day, we had to get the strips ready that day because we do not normally have ample time on Thursdays since we go to the park to meet Lachlan and his nanny.

Instead of buying a garland, we have decided to make one by joining up loops of paper strips. This was rather tricky for Stella. The colours she had chosen were pink (of course), red, green and blue. I started the paper chain to show her how it is done. She watched closely as I staple the ends of a strip together to create a section of the chain. Then, it was her turn. She had to be mindful not to accidentally squash the paper loop that she was about to staple. After quite a few attempts, Stella gave up. I think she feared that she might squash the growing length of chain. I took over and I also showed her how we can drape the chain around the tree to see if we have achieved the right length yet. After a while, she decided to give it another go herself and this time I helped to make it easier by placing the rest of the chain away from her so she was only working with one end of the chain immediately in front of her. I think she felt more confident knowing that she was less likely to squash the sections of the chain that were already made up. The procedure of stapling the ends was also quite tricky for her little fingers even though we were using a very small stapler. I could see that she was anxious but at the same time she was dead set to get the job done. Before long the chain was ready and we wrapped it around the tree. I could clearly see that she was very proud of the end results.

After showing off the paper chain to her mum last Thursday, she reminded her that we will need photos for the next stage of our project. The parents didn’t fail. They provided us with a box of photos to select from. We picked out a photo each of her mum, her dad, herself and one of the three of them taken on her birthday this year. We also managed to find one of her uncle and her maternal grandparents. (Stella does not see her paternal grandparents but that is another story that I don’t wish to get into.) I then introduced one of my stencils that I use for scrap-booking at home. I let her experiment it a little by tracing the shapes out on paper. When she was ready, I pointed to the circle shape and told her to trace a few of those on cardstock for her to decorate. She chose to use markers for them this time. She traced pretty well with one hand and stabilized the stencil with the other hand. While she was doing that, I covered the surface of the photos we selected with a layer of clear book-wrap that I have brought from home. She watched with great interest wondering what I was doing. I explained to her that the book-wrap works as a layer of laminate to protect the photos. She actually picked up the word laminate and used it when explaining to her parents later! LOL. Using the stencil, I carefully traced the circle shape to the back of each photo, preparing them to be cut out later. I had to make sure that the photo of the person is properly centred within the traced outline. After Stella finished decorating inside her set of traced shapes, I cover them also with a layer of clear book-wrap. Stella commented, “This is a very big sticky tape.”

The both of us took a break. We had Anzac biscuits and a drink before getting back to our work. I needed Stella to have a break because the next step required her to concentrate well. Pointing to the outlines of the traced shapes and before I got to finish explaining, Stella piped in, saying that we got to cut them out like the star (tree topper). LOL. I can easily cut them all out for her but I wanted Stella to participate as much as possible and she wasn’t hesitant to give it a go. At her age, cutting straight lines like cutting out the strips for the paper chain is pretty manageable but curved lines can prove to be quite a challenge. Nevertheless Stella took up the job of cutting the shapes out with determination at first. She was happy with the outcome of the first one. By the third one, she began to doubt her quality. She kept asking if they looked alright. Then she dropped a hint about asking her mum to fix them up. After cutting another one out, she asked (without making eye contact) if I could fix up the ‘ugly’ ones for her. She complained that she couldn’t stay on the line properly. I knew that this wasn’t going to be easy for her and being a perfectionist, I couldn’t help but want to fix them up for her. LOL. I stayed firm and didn’t give in. I encouraged her to cut slowly and also praised her for her efforts. She persevered. The circles were not perfect and I know that any adult or a much older child could do a better job than Stella but the importance was that she tried and did her very best. Once the ten traced circle shapes were cut out, all we had to do was to punch out a hole at the top of each for me to loop a piece of ribbon. Stella enjoyed using the table top punch machine in the office. This is easier to use than the ones that are shape like pliers. The ribbon loops are a safe way to attach the decorations to the tree. The metal hooks that we use at home on our tree to hang Christmas ornaments are just too dangerous for a child. When we sat there admiring her little tree, I saw a very proud Stella. The imperfect circles no longer bothered her. They actually looked prety good. All the hard-work was worth it. She turned to me and said, “I really like making things with you, @#*-@#*.” Who said being a nanny is all about nappy changing?

I gave Stella a little surprise yesterday. (It was my last day of work) Overnight, I quickly whipped up a tree skirt for her little Christmas tree. I dug out some left over Christmas theme fabric that I used years ago to make the underside of our tree skirt. I gambled a little by using my wok to trace a circle and luckily it turned out to be the right size. It was a no frills version. It was not lined and therefore has no batting but I did add two pairs of ribbons for closure at the opening. The outer edges are just simply finished with bias cut binding that was turned down and topstitched -this was the hardest bit. I sneaked into Stella’s room to dress the tree when she was napping. Her air conditioner was on and she was sleeping soundly facing away from the tree. As I was stepping out of her room, the floor boards creaked loudly. “Those damn floorboards!” I thought. Luckily, it didn’t wake her up. LOL.

When Stella got up, she called out for me from the top of the stairs. She sounded really excited. I pretended not to know what was happening and dashed up the stairs. She took my hand and guided me to her room to show what she had discovered. This nanny was just lousy. I simply couldn’t stop smiling. Stella was just too smart to be fooled. She saw my face and then asked, “Did you make this @#*-@#*?” I admitted and she gave me a hug and thanked me without prompting. She talked about her Christmas tree on the way to the park and on the way back from the park. She told Lachlan about it and when she got home, she decided that she was not going to wait any longer. She begged to call her mum. They spoke for a few minutes and then another round of begging to call her dad. For some reason, we couldn’t reach him and when we did, he dropped out within seconds. It was weird. So, Stella waited for her parents while listening to one of my Christmas CDs and talking about helping to decorate the family’s HUGE Christmas tree soon.