Oh, What Fun We Had!

I adore my great nephew and great niece and try to see them as often as I can.  

They are crafty little people too and last year we enjoyed making some Christingles.

When I heard they were free on Sunday to meet up and make some more I was sooo excited!!

We got together with all our bits and pieces - 

Foil, cocktail sticks, foil, juicy oranges, cranberries, apricots, sultanas and sweeties

Great uncle cut the middle from the oranges and we stuck tape around the middle.

We set about making the Christingles.  I reminded them of the story about the Christingle (see end of post).

This is the part the little ones liked best - filling the cocktail sticks with fruit and sweeties!

And, things didn't always go according to plan -

Sticky bits stuck on elbows!  Cocktail sticks snapped in half! Juice squirted everywhere!

But the little ones got on with the task in hand and worked very hard sticking the filled sticks into the oranges. 

 

These Christingles weren't just put together any old way - oh no, great nephew was very particular about his colour co-ordination and proudly matched these sweeties up with his top! ..... 

A bit more effort was needed to push the candles and foil into the oranges ...

There was much hilarity when they tried to pick the tray up and the oranges fell over!!

After much laughter and fun the Christingles were lined up for their final photo! 

Errmm...not many sweeties left though!

A long time ago the children were asked to take a gift to put beside the crib in Church. One family were very poor and had no money for gifts.   The children looked around the house to see what they could take.  They found an orange which was going mouldy at the top. They scooped out the bad bits and put a candle in the top.  It looked like a lantern!  One of the girls took a red ribbon from her hair and tied it around the middle. The ribbon kept slipping off so they stuck some sticks in to keep it in place.  They found some raisons in the cupboard and stuck these on the end.  When they took their lantern to church they were afraid that the other children would laugh at it.  However the priest told everyone how special the lantern was because:

• The orange is round like the world.
• The candle stands tall and straight and gives light in the dark
• The red ribbon goes all around the 'world' 
• The four sticks point in all directions and symbolise North, South, East and West - they also represent the four seasons.
• The fruit (or sometimes sweets!) represent the fruits of the earth, nurtured by the sunshine and the rain.

I think this is a lovely story.  

And, a Christingle orange is always a delightful present to give.

I do hope you are having some fun time with your Christmas preparations too.

Cx