decking the sparse halls

We’re preparing to move so the house is looking a little different than it usually does this time of year. The decorations were coming down out of the attic anyway, but I’d be lying if I said we hooked all those ornaments and carefully loaded the branches without a single thought of ‘should we really be doing this?’ Should we really decorate just to take it all down in two and a half weeks?

That indecision only lasted a minute or two. The answer is, Yes we should! In the midst of the chaos that is our home right now we needed this one room that still has a few familiar stuff hanging out on the walls. We needed cozy comforters still unpacked and a few beautiful things still on shelves. And we needed that tree in our home, to remind us to enjoy every minute that we are here.

And Christmas wouldn’t feel complete without a project so before I packed up my glue gun, I grabbed some yarn and an old book and made a tree garland.

A paper garland seemed like the perfect craft to get the kids involved in. Jonathan, being 6, thinks punching holes in book pages is the bomb. I’m thinking about putting a paper punch in his stocking this year. But then again… maybe not. 

Once we had enough holes punched out, and most rescued from the floor, we folded them all in half.

Then we took two pieces and glued the sides together at the fold.

I attached the pieces to the string along the fold using hot glue. This is the part where I burned my fingers twenty times before I figured out how to keep them out of the way. This is also the part where the kids informed me I was on my own for the rest of the project.

Once the glue dried I covered the string with the third paper piece. Glue it down and we’re done.

Only ten more feet of garland to go!

I think it made the tree this year.