Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Works For Me Wednesday...Our Pioneer Christmas

I'm so excited about this Christmas because we've decided to follow a theme, a Pioneer Christmas. I'm not sure what brought this about. Maybe our move to the "country" or maybe my kids desire to learn about what people did long ago or maybe just a combination of things. But I will tell you it has brought new excitement to the holiday season here at Cotton-Top Hills. We've gotten a jump on things, since we've learned the pioneers had to plan months in advance for the holidays.
The ideas are endless and over the next several weeks I'll be posting about our projects, which include homemade gifts and decorations. Here is a picture of some of the books that have gotten us started:


My library didn't have these so I ordered them new and used from Amazon. The girls and I are enjoying going through each book. It has some great ideas and has also gotten the girls thinking about some of their own. Like wouldn't the pioneers made use of all these yuccas we have growing wild around here...how about some yucca soap. It's just a joy to watch them get excited and work together on things.
Also, we are being frugal. The pioneers didn't have much, but they scrapped together what they did have and made it a beautiful holiday. We're learning to appreciate that we don't have to have that flat screen TV or Wii to make our Christmas memorable. The pioneers encountered some very difficult times, but families pulled together and made the best of it. It's a wonderful Christmas spirit to have.
Anyway, this Pioneer Christmas is helping my family to really focus on the true meaning of Christmas this year. Check back on Friday for our first Frugal Pioneer Decorating Idea, it involves hammers and ice!!
For more WFMW ideas check at Shannon's blog.


4 comments:

Pat's Place said...

I remember the year Mother gathered those old yucca stalks with the open pods on them and sprayed them gold for a vase on the hearth. I also remember during the war saving the silver paper wrapping on chewing gum, glueing it with a bottle of mucilage (with a rubber stopper) to a cardboard shape of a star, moon or circle and hanging it on the Christmas tree for an ornament. If I put it near a colored light bulb it reflected the color nicely.

Life in the Crazy Lane said...

What a great idea! When I start homeschooling, we'll be doing units on pioneer life, and these will be very helpful!

Kara said...

We're having a lot of fun with it all! It'a amazing what you can do with everday items, what they can be turned into:)

Anonymous said...

We did that one year I was out of work... and it actually ended up being pretty cool...