A fun project for kids: Make your own Christmas ornaments

Instructions: Paste each picture onto cardboard and cut out along the dotted lines (always use safety scissors so you don't cut yourself). Color with plain or glitter crayons,  with paint or felt-tip markers - whatever you've got. Punch out the black dots and string with bright ribbon, then hang them on the tree, over the mantle of the firepace if you have one, in your room, or wherever your folks say it's okay to hang them. These can also be glued to wood or cloth. Parents & guardians: younger children may require some help with this.

Click on thumbnails for larger images.

Thanks to Graylady.

How to make a cranberry-popcorn garland

Yes, it's true that garland is relatively inexpensive, and can be purchased almost anywhere. It wasn't so in days of yore, and rural families most often simply made their own. Thematically, what the garland was made of depended on what was available, but most commonly popcorn was used, or ribbon with or without baubles and bows stitched onto it.

Want to try to make your own? If so, make it an experience - something the family can do together, that will make for fond memories. Put on Christmas music, or one of your favorite movies. Serve cocoa or hot cider and Christmas cookies.

MATERIALS:

• Popcorn: No salt and no butter, if possible. After popping the popcorn, let it sit out for a day to get stale; fresh popcorn crumbles.

(Make an extra bowl of regular popcorn for the family, since the kids are probably going to eat it as they help make the garland, unbuttered and stale, or not.

• Fresh cranberries

• Heavyweight sowing needle. Use good judgement in how old your child needs to be to handle a sewing needle, and supervise them well. For a very young child, you can set them to the task of alternately handing you cranberries and popcorn.

• Heavyweight sewing thread. Waxed dental floss works great, because it is less-prone to breakage, and the addition of the wax makes it easier to slide the cranberries along.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Lay out long lengths of thread. Tie a knot at one end, and thread the other end through the needle. The individual segments can be tied together when you're finished, but be sure to leave a couple inches of thread at the end of each segment.

Push the needle through the cranberry and slide it down the length of the thread to the knotted end. Then do the same with a piece of popcorn. Alternate popcorn and cranberries until the segment is finished.

Lastly, tie the segments together, and hang the garland.

After Christmas, send the kids out with the garland to decorate any shrubs or trees around your residence. A small child will get a lot of pleasure out of seeing the birds dine on the garland he's hung out.