Oh Christmas Tree

...how lovely are thy branches.

Don't you just love the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree message?

We first read Tale of the Three Trees

By Angela Elwell Hunt

Which tells about what three trees want to become,

one a treasure chest, one a boat fit for kings, and the last wants to grow tall and point to heaven.

They all three get cut down and the first becomes the baby Jesus' manger, the second the boat Christ calmed the sea in, and the last the cross of Jesus.

It's a beautiful story perfect for Christmastime.

Next we decorated our felt Christmas tree,

Check out this felt Christmas Tree,
Made with fancy ornaments!

It was funky and fun.

It would be awesome to decorate the ornaments,

and write Christmasy things on the back of each ornament

(like random acts of kindness to do at Christmas time, or scriptures telling about Christ's birth.)

We also made a tree craft.

I have wanted M. to practice her cutting skills,

So I had her cut out some tissue paper from the dollar store.

We cut out a girl ice skater,

Glued on a magnet, and put it on some aluminum foil.

(Not that it stuck super well, but it made it glide better.)

Then as my little artist always does,

She added some flair.

For our snack we made Christmas Trees out of Cheerios Rice Crispy Treats adding green food coloring with the melted marshmallows.

I found this was a little tricky.

I finally figured out what worked.

I used a funnel when it cooled slightly,

I sprayed it with Pam put the rice crispy mix inside,

put it on a plate, molded it a little more,

and let it set in the freezer.

The kids LOVED this snack,

they spent over 15 minutes putting on the candies.

It was a hit!