Christmas Bell with flower clay pot

This project started being run by Maureen Bovet in the last 1980's. She got the idea from a friend who gave her one. Maureen loves flowers and landscaping so this project was perfect for her to run. Her quote is: "Pretty simple but with a gardenesque theme which is why I liked it."

Materials:
*Small clay pots, the smallest you can find 1 to 2 inches
*Pipe cleaners, the sparkly the better
*Bells - small with a part on top to put pipe cleaner through

Assembly:
1. Put the pipe cleaner through the top of the bell and put it in the middle of the pipe cleaner
2. Fold the two ends of the pipe cleaner together and twist a few times so the bell will ring easier
3. Then thread those two ends of the pipe cleaners through the bottom hole of the clay pot, from the inside of the pot
4. Twist the pipe cleaners to create a loop for hanging. The pot hangs upside down as a bell
5. The pot can be decorated with stickers

Clothespin Reindeer

Clothespin Reindeer

Contributed and run for many years by the Morse-Fortier family

MATERIALS:
*3 flat sliding kind of clothes pins
*6 inch long piece of thread (red or green)
*One end of a Q-tip
*Tiny Christmas bell
*2 tiny eyes
*1 small red push pin
*Elmer's glue

ASSEMBLY:
1) Cut 4" of thread, make a loop and glue it between two clothes pins
2) Cut 2" of thread, run it through the bell and blue it between the pair of clothespins and the third one, which goes upside down
3) Add the eyes, the red push pin nose, and glue on the Q-tip tail

How to run a Holiday Workshop

The idea behind this blog is to use it as a way to gather details on how to run a Holiday Workshop like the one at First Parish in Lexington, Unitarian Universalist. We have run a Holiday Workshop for decades on a Saturday early in December. Sometimes the sanctuary is decorated and the tree put up on the same day.

The idea is to provide a fun inter-generational event that avoids the crass commercialism of the holiday season while helping to build the true joy of the season.

Typically we gather in our spacious church basement, light some logs in the fireplace, bring low key refreshments and set up various tables for people to make their own small gifts, tree ornaments, or cards. Recently we have stories read to children in front of the fireplace.

We especially want people to add their own memories of what has happened in the past, instructions for the specific craft tables and photos of past events and ornaments.

Look at your tree and decorations for ideas of past projects.

HISTORY: From what I can gather so far, this was started in the range 1975-1980. People involved for sure were Connie Counts and Dori Reuss and Ellen Brandenberg. If anyone knows more history please email Sally or post a comment here.