Christmas Decoration

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 79, Issue 5, 15 November 1949, Page 513

Christmas Decoration

PREPARATIONS for Christmas loom large in the future of every family at this time of year, and especially in families with young children. Following articles on paper cutting and tearing and pic-, ture making in the two previous <£ Journals,” in this one of the series on child care and development Dorothy Johnson, Rural Sociologist, Department of Agriculture, Christchurch, shows how the preparation of Christmas decorations can be made a co-operative family enterprise.

SEVERAL times in these articles it i has been suggested that the ob- < jects that children make, even in . 1 paper, can and should be used in vari- 1 ous aspects' of the life of the home, < both in the day-by-day ones and on ] those more special occasions which ■ mark the social festivals of the year, , such as birthdays. Probably the most j important to the child and in his de- j velopment is his own birthday. Being in the centre of the picture for a day, v surrounded by presents that are 1 tokens of the Jove and affection in which he is held, - not only deepens his feeling of security, but also satisfies # his need of significance in the family ' group. If the occasion is marked by a party, he can contribute to the festive preparations by decorating the places of the guests with paper mats, folding table napkins for them, and making doilies for the cake plates.

Most Important Birthday

Directing his energy in too concentrated a fashion for any specific occasion is a mistake. A small child can do only very little at once,- as his powers of concentration are slight, but the things he makes can be put away when his attention is focused on something else, or when he is asleep, and produced later for the birthday celebrations as his work and his contribution to the preparation. That is true chiefly for the tiny tots. The older ones can do more at one time and are capable of planning and working for more, remote and special occasions such-as Christmas. This is the

most important birthday of the year, celebrating the coming of love itself, thus enhancing the significance of the birthdays of individual members of every family. That this is so is symbolised by the more general decoration' of the house for the Christmas season, generally stimulated, it must be admitted, by the abundance of mass-produced and stereotyped decorations which fill’ the shops at this time.

VVUUIU. 11 UUI UC UCLbCI AVFX c* xuinxxj to produce its. own Christmas decorations, sometimes indirectly, sometimes purposefully? Last month’s article in this series dealt with the gradual making of a picture of a Christmas tree, either on a life-size scale as a combined family effort or on the individual level to form a mantelpiece frieze in the decorative scheme. From the various types of paper work other Christmas decorations can be made. Coloured Paper .Chains The simplest wall decorations are the coloured paper chains in the making of which everyone can lend a hand. One kind is made by folding a 2in. strip of paper into 16 thicknesses and I . jI ' j I ~J ;T -11

cutting it as shown in the illustration. Many strips • can be gummed together for festoons for walls and ceiling.

Another type of chain is made by linking small strips of paper together, each piece being 2in. by 8 or 9in., and pasting the ends together. These

chains give greater scope for individual choice in colour combinations. Sheets. of coloured paper, gummed or plain,- are readily procurable. If lanterns and paper balls are hung from the festoons the result is most attractive. Lanterns Brightly-coloured paper can be used to make lanterns of various sizes. Fold

a piece of paper in halves and then fold down I. to “in. along the top edges. Make alternate long and short vertical cuts with scissors along the length of the paper, the long ones reaching just up to the folded edges.

Open out the paper, join the ends in a ring, and paste a handle on. A strip of paper of contrasting colour can be pasted round the top to hold the handle. / ' Paper Balls . Two attractive types of balls can be made from tissue paper. The middle one in the photograph on this page was made with only white paper and the other two with white, green, black, and red. . • • . A ball like the right-hand one is made as follows: Cut a square of tissue paper and fold it into four small squares. Fold the small square diagonally and then fold along a line from the apex of the triangle to the centre of the paper. The paper now has 16 thicknesses, but some of the folds do not reach all the way to the end.

Cut the extra pieces off along the ' dotted line. Open out the paper and it should form a circle. Make 16 cuts in the circle and twist each little strip so formed. Make a number of circles in different-coloured paper and thread them through their centres on a string, arranging them in a ball form. To finish off, thread the string several times through the centre of the ball, leaving a piece by which 1 to hang it up. Paper balls like these are more fun if made by a group of children and adults together, and the balls grow more rapidly. To make one would be a very tedious task for a small child alone.

The second method is perhaps easier and quicker. The circles of paper are made in the same way, 12 at least being needed. Pick up each one at the centre with one hand and run it through the fingers of ‘ the other hand to the edge, turning it into a small, rough segment of a ball, and thread them together.

Cut-out Strips The strip cutting described and' illustrated in the September “JournaJ” can be used most effectively for Christmas decorations. The designs given for candles, bells, Father Christmas, dolls, teddy bears, baskets of flowers, and animals all fit into the Christmas celebrations. - They can be made in the winter evenings or on wet holidays, and after a preliminary display at the time of making can be stored away until December. The season's achievement makes a grand showing at Christmas—a family cooperative effort, though the parents probably contribute the lion’s share in the family’s earlier . years. When put up on the wall these paper strips can be hung in one long chain or each figure can be separated and pasted on a long strip of paper to form a frieze.

Fir Trees

In addition to wall - decorations and the Christmas tree itself, miniature fir trees made to stand up by themselves can be used as a motif in the table decorations. Fold and cut paper as for a circle but do not open it out flat. Cut the tree outline as shown in the diagram. Take care not io cut the tree quite to a point at the top. but leave the last Jin. uncut. Fix a stick into a cork, place the top of the tree on the point of the stick, and gum it securely. Arrange the ends of the branches in position, fixing them with a spot of gum. If larger trees are required, use a small plant pot instead of a cork.

So far only the softer kinds of paper have been used. Another very effective tree can be made from stiff green paper' or carton paper. Two oblong pieces are needed. Fold each in halves lengthwise and cut ,out the shape of the tree. Various shapes can be used, one being shown in the photograph on this page and another in the diagram. The two pieces are fitted together by complementary slits, on one piece cut on the fold halfway down from the top and on the other cut halfway up from the bottom. Slip one slit through the other /at right angles, and there is a tree that "stands by itself.

Tree Ornaments

From carton paper, bells can be made either in varied colours or covered with silver paper from chocolates. These can, hang on the real tree. So can' attractive little' cartonpaper statues of Father Christmas hims'elf. The merry dancing ones illustrated were cut from red carton paper, with features, belts, and boots put on with indian ink and carefullyfluffed. cotton wool gummed on for the fur trimming. < They can be hung on the tree or wall by cords.

Of course, if the children have made a picture of Father Christmas and his bag of toys as described in last month’s “Journal,” it will have pride of place in the living room during the Christmas season.

Finally, the Christmas story calls, for cradles or mangers and babies. The one illustrated can be made simply. in any size to; suit. An oblong of coloured paper is slit at the sides as shown in the diagram and the rockers cut and fixed as in the photograph. On the dinner table the cradles can hold sweets or nuts for individual guests.

Family Achievements

The activities described by no means exhaust the possibilities. Circumstances • determine what any one family will achieve. On the mother, with much assistance from the father, will fall the essential stage management that will produce the ideas and the raw materials for interesting occupations at various times of the year, and she will also fit them into the major project for the Christmas season. Stored away piece by piece and forgotten, they will be hailed with pride and delight on their reappearance later, astonishing even the parents with the evidence of creative co-operative family achievements to celebrate the festival which comes first in the hearts of all children.