Randel McGee - Paper Crafts for Christmas

MAKE A LITTLE CHRISTMAS CHEER!

Do you want to make your own Christmas tree? How about making your own snowflakes? Now you can create your own. Follow storyteller Randel McGee as he explores Christmas in Paper Crafts for Christmas. Learn to make a wreath, pop-up card, paper plate angel, and more!

Have some fun with your children while you and they help to decorate the house for the holidays. These crafts are easy to complete and will provide a chance for everyone in the family to get into the Christmas spirit.

Randel McGees delightful book contains easy-to-use instructions for creating craft projects that are sure to become the highlight of your familys Christmas traditions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randel McGee is a storyteller, puppeteer, ventriloquist, and paper-cutting artist. He performs all over the world, sharing his paper-cutting stories with children and adults. This is his first series with Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ about two thousand years ago. It is a day that honors one very special event, and yet wherever it is celebrated there are special customs for celebrating this holiday.

More than three hundred years after the birth of Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic Church set December 25 as the date to celebrate this event. They called it Christs Mass, which was later shortened to Christmas. December 25 was a special date in many European cultures, as they celebrated the return of the sun after the long dark days of winter. Each culture added their own mid-winter customs to their celebration of Christmas. Some of the old customs that were brought to the Christmas celebration were decorating homes with branches from holly and fir trees and mistletoe.

The Germans had a tradition of celebrating Christmas by setting up a small fir tree in their homes and decorating it with small candles. The tree and candles were reminders of everlasting life and light. Small gifts and sweets were also hung on the tree as decorations for the children to enjoy. The German immigrants who came to America brought with them the tradition of the decorated Christmas tree.

The Dutch people who came to America brought with them a tradition of a special gift giver, named Sint Nicklaas, or Saint Nicholas in English, who would deliver gifts to good children. Saint Nicholas was a bishop in Turkey. He was known for his good deeds and generosity. There is a legend that Saint Nicholas placed some coins in the stockings of poor children who had hung them by the fire to dry. The custom of putting presents in stockings as a gift from St. Nicholas became a part of the American Christmas tradition. Dutch children called him Sinterklaas. American children called him Santa Claus.

The American tradition of Santa Claus as the Christmas gift giver started in the early 1800s. In 1809, the well-known author Washington Irving wrote about Santa Claus as a fat little man who rode through the air in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. Then in 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, a minister and teacher, wrote a poem for his children that he called A Visit From Saint Nicholas, more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas. He used Irvings description of Santa Claus and his sleigh pulled by reindeer. He created Santas ability to go up and down a chimney as if by magic. The poem was published the next year and became very popular. In the late 1800s, a famous illustrator named Thomas Nast made hundreds of cartoons of Santa Claus based on the poem by Clement Clarke Moore. Nasts pictures became the images of Santa that most Americans recognize today.

A British author had a great effect on the way people celebrate Christmas. In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol. This story about mean, old Ebenezer Scrooge, who was visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve, inspired people around the world to look at Christmas as a special time of friendship and caring. A Christmas Carol is still one of the most popular Christmas stories.

So on your walls hang wreaths of holly!
Make a little Santa Claus thats jolly!
Give a little Christmas cheer when you craft a small reindeer!
Send your friends a Christmas greeting or invite them to a festive meeting.
Place ornaments for all to see, add an angel atop your Christmas tree.
Tis the season for paper and scissors! Dont wait!
Christmas is coming! So lets decorate!

There is a legend that Martin Luther, a famous German church leader and writer of the 1500s, was walking home one winter night and was impressed with the beauty of a fir tree with stars sparkling through its branches. He cut a small fir tree and brought it into his home. He placed little candles on its branches to represent the stars. He showed it to his friends and family as a symbol of life and light. Christmas trees became an important part of the German holiday celebration that was brought to America with the German immigrants. O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum in German) is a well-known Christmas carol. Here is a little Christmas tree for you to decorate.

1. Use the tracing paper to transfer the pattern from to the green construction paper (See A). Make four trees. Cut them out.

2. Decorate the four tree shapes as you wish with markers, crayons, glitter, or little ornaments made from scraps of construction paper (See B). Let dry.

3. Put the four tree shapes together on top of each other (See C). Staple all four trees together down the middle from top to bottom.

4. Fold each side of the pattern a little along the stapled line so that the sides open out to form a tree.

5. Tape the bottom edges of the finished tree to a sheet of construction paper or card stock to make it stand.

The holly is an evergreen plant, meaning that it still has leaves on it in the winter. People in ancient times thought that holly had the power to chase away evil spirits. The spiky leaves and bright red berries of the holly remind Christians of the crown of thorns placed on Jesus head. Both evergreen branches and the circle shape of the wreath are symbols of everlasting life.