Hot glue wrapped candy canes to match the pattern of the star shown in the picture. Hot glue candy cane stars to each joint and add ribbon. These make nice gifts and look great hanging in a window around Christmas time. This is a basic pattern – keep adding and make it larger or try a different pattern – this is like making a snowflake cut out – the possibilities are endless.
Celebrated December 25th in the United States and other countries.
Christmas is celebrated on January 7 in some Eastern Orthodox countries, such as Russia.
The real date of Jesus’ birth is not known.
The Christmas story is told primarily in the Gospels of Saint Luke and Saint Matthew in the New Testament.
Considered the most popular Christian observance, Christmas is also celebrated as a secular family holiday.
The word Christmas is derived from the Old English phrase Cristes maesse (Christ’s mass).
The tradition of substituting X-mas for Christmas has its origins in the early Christian church. The first letter of Jesus Christ’s name is X in the Greek language.
Many of the customs and symbols traditionally associated with Christmas originated with ancient pagan festivals and winter solstice rituals.
The modern Christmas tree (typically evergreen conifers-usually pine, balsam or fir species) originated in Germany in the 16th century and became popular in England by the mid-19th century thanks to Queen Victoria’s German husband, Prince Albert.
St. Nicholas, the real person on whom Santa Claus is based, lived in the 4th century AD in the province of Lycia on the southwest coast of Asia Minor.
Cartoonist Thomas Nast is credited with creating the current image of Santa Claus based on his illustrations that began appearing in Harpers Weekly in 1863.
Simply wrap three of your presents in three different sized boxes. Wrap in white paper and add dots for buttons, eyes and mouth. Add fabric red scarf and make a black top hat out of construction paper. Construct a funnel from red construction paper to make his nose.
Saw these and thought they were really neat so I have to share.
Country & Victorian Times 