White and gold Chrismons ( Christ Monogram ) made with glue and glitter -- decorated symbols representing Christ and Christianity. Crowns, crosses, doves, butterflies and stars are just a few examples of a Chrismon designs -- Chrismons are traditionally white with gold decorations of beads, ribbon, glitter, etc. ( white representing joy and gold the glory of God ).
This activity was very popular -- what child (or adult for that matter) doesn't like to play with glue and lots and lots of glitter ?!
An Advent wreath is a circular garland of evergreen branches representing eternity. Five candles are arranged on the wreath; and, on each of the four Sundays preceding Christmas, a candle is lit. Those candles represent: Hope - Love - Joy - Peace. The fifth candle is larger and white -- this candle is lit on Christmas Eve and represents the gift of Christ to the world.
To make our wreath, we picked through what seemed like a mountain of Christmas pretties to choose just the right things to make our wreath special. As you can see, Joe has his wreath colors coordinated -- he has a very good eye that I'm sure he gets from his Mommy. Each child also received a box of Advent candles for their wreath and all I'll say about that is that Joe was very interested in the candles and the fact that they looked like something the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would carry -- it made them very cool indeed !
MoMo and Joe both had a great time -- creating all sorts of 'Advent Crafts' . We left with paint on our hands and glitter under our nails -- and, we both learned things we didn't know before (or in my case - had forgotten).
One thing I did remember -- seeing/experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a small child is one of God's sweet blessings.
