The season is here! It is finally THE weekend! It is finally time to put up all our Christmas decorations, both inside and out! Boxes and bags are pulled up from the basement and down from the attic. Lights are found and ornaments are fondly remembered ... this begins such a happy time in the Christian year.
When it comes to outdoor Christmas decor, my family plays it pretty conservative - white icicle lights, candles in the windows, wreath on the front door. Traditional, if not perhaps, a bit boring (at least according to my young boys!). Many of our neighbors have all manner of inflatables and snowglobes and lighted extravaganzas that are meant to dazzle and delight. So to jazz things up a bit, this year we thought we might add a lawn ornament or two. The trouble was, we couldn't find anything we really liked (or when we did it was way out of our price range).
So, what did we do? Well, we made like the Yankees we are and we made one ourselves!
As it happened, last summer Bill came upon a fallen birch tree in the woods out back. Recently we made use of its beautiful wood, following the examples of Rebecca and Alice and turning a portion of it into a family Advent log. We remembered we had much of it leftover and Bill was game to try a bigger project and of course, the boys were more than just a little bit eager to help. A quick jaunt into the woods for some stray branches and we were in business ...
Above you see several logs of birch wood just waiting to be cut.
Here Bill is screwing the legs onto the body section.
Bookworm is pointing to where his dad whittled the neck to fit into the body.
Crackerjack saved this little piece of wood, and when we were looking for a nose, he had just the right thing!
And here we have our finished reindeer! This craft took less than an hour, and was immensely satisfying to us all. We have our" lawn ornament"at last - he may not flash or sparkle, but he is just perfect for us. Hopefully soon he will be joined by a smaller companion!
ETA: Our reindeer was happily joined by his little brother this afternoon!
Very cute - and really pretty simple. Thanks.
Posted by: MaryM | December 03, 2006 at 12:42 PM
Great idea, great job!
Posted by: Maria | December 03, 2006 at 01:57 PM
I love both of them!
Posted by: Jennifer | December 03, 2006 at 07:13 PM
I love it! Very "woodsy" and beautiful!
Posted by: Theresa | December 04, 2006 at 09:11 AM
Thank you so much, everyone! We are very pleased with our woodsy fellows. :)
Posted by: Dawn | December 05, 2006 at 05:00 AM