Christmas Ornament 2010

Every year, for the past 22 years we have pastored in our church, I have made our board members a Christmas ornament. It's not much, but just a small token of our appreciation to the people who have cared for us so well over the years. In the early years I used to host a dinner for them in our home. As our church has grown and our board and staff have increased I am not able to do that anymore. Now we rent a banquet room at a local restaurant and share dinner together. But I still make the ornament.

It is more challenging every year to find an ornament idea. Twenty two ornaments can practically fill a tree! I was very excited this year when I found this blog. Besides a compelling story and excellent writing that is a joy to read, Amy is a most creative person full of whimsical and sweet little handmade joys. She publishes an online magazine, Inspired Ideas, that is full of fun things. That is how I found this year's ornament.

I made these charming little churches

( I am so not a photographer - and for the record, I work with two broken cameras, one takes the pictures and the other loads them on to my computer. Sigh. I know - it's very tragic.)

I just love them! They are so clever in their construction - they are made from miniature cereal boxes

I enlisted my husband's help his year as well




After all the pieces are cut out, they are painted and assembled. I used an assembly line - I made 20 churches in all.



(By the way, in the background you can see that I was watching the BSU/Utah game. That's Kellan Moore and Jeremy Avery - two of my fave's!)

After assembling the churches, I painted them with snow and covered them in glitter. They look like little candy churches.




I also make ornaments for my daughters every year. I'm not sure why but I make them something else, something special that only they get. I will be posting about those in the next couple of weeks.

Christmas traditions -- aren't they just the best?