We ended up having one of Caroline’s best little friends spend most of the weekend with us. And on Saturday morning when the weather was rainy and miserable it became apparent that we’d need some sort of activity to get us through the day.
Or maybe just to get me through the day.
So I took the girls to see the new Muppet movie and I might have cried during the scene where they all sing “Rainbow Connection” because I am a big sentimental sap and Kermit holds a place in my heart.
But that only took up a couple of hours.
Which is when I decided we needed to go to Hobby Lobby to load up on some craft supplies. Sadly I’d forgotten that Hobby Lobby isn’t the best place to be on a Saturday during the Christmas season when everything is 50% off. But I persevered in the name of crafting. Just like Martha Stewart would do.
I could lead you astray and make you think it was all for the love of the craft but the truth is we were already there and it seemed pointless to leave. Plus I had a goal. A crafting goal.
It’s like I don’t even know who I am.
If you’ve been reading the blog for a few years you may remember that my very favorite Christmas decoration is the flowerpot nativity that Caroline made at preschool when she was three. Here it is:
I’m not sure there is a more accurate depiction of the night of Jesus’s birth. Look how bedraggled Mary looks. And her hair is a wreck. As well it should be after what she’d just been through. A donkey ride. Labor in a stable surrounded by animals. That drummer boy that wouldn’t quit banging his drum.
Pa-rum-pa-pa-pum.
And so I thought it might be fun to have the girls make new flowerpot nativities and since Gulley is now the teacher of the preschool class that makes flowerpot nativities, I called her to ask what we needed to make them other than the obvious flowerpots.
Here’s the list in case you’re interested. We found all of this at Hobby Lobby.
2 medium flower pots
1 small flower pot
acrylic paint
2 medium wooden balls (for Mary and Joseph’s heads)
1 small wooden ball (for Jesus’s head)
fabric for their head coverings
doll hair (or you can just color it in with a Sharpie)
roll of grapevine to create headpiece and staff
moss
silver pipe cleaner (for the halo)
hot glue gun or gorilla glue
We waited in the checkout line at Hobby Lobby until I thought Jesus might return before we made it back to the car and then drove home with our craft supplies. And a few hours later we had created two brand new flowerpot nativities. Here’s Caroline’s:
Sure it lacks some of the charm of Mary’s wide-eyed frightened look from the earlier version, but it’s still pretty sweet.
And if I’m feeling really ambitious and brave before Christmas is over I might go back to Hobby Lobby and get us some more pots so we can add three wise men and an angel.
And maybe even a drummer boy.
Pa-rum-pa-pa-pum.
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When I first glanced at the last picture, I thought baby Jesus was in a pot of marshmallows. Ha!
Awwwww.
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Oh these are precious! My girls are in their 20′s…are they too old? : )
Thank you so much for sharing and for listing the items needed. I have a ‘Cousins Christmas Party’ each year with my four grandchildren (this year 4 – 8 years) and the art activity is always Nativity related. After work I’ll be off to the store as we will be making these on the 17.
Oh, I think I’m seeing this as a Christmas break craft that would make a GREAT gift for the grandparents!
Okay, I’m not all that crafty but these things are adorable! I may have to make these with my 8 year old. I would say with my 12 year old too but you know, he’s 12 and is just too cool for middle school anymore!
I think both nativities are great, but my fave is the older one b/c of the realism the artist portrays.
If I can get up the courage to brave Hobby Lobby this week (the parking lot on Saturday looked like the parking lot at Disney World – wall to wall cars), then we’re totally making this!
I just love your posts! Every one seems to be a page from MY life. Keep ‘em coming! Seems especially at this busy time of year, we all need a good laugh. Merry Christmas, y’all!
From a fellow Texan.
Oh how I love this idea! The first picture cracked me up! Bless Mary’s heart! She was had been through it! By the way, my least favorite of all Christmas songs is the Little Drummer Boy. pa-rum-pa-pa-pum…
I may be doing this with my three and four year old Sunday school class. I’m not in the class, I teach it. I struggle with crafts because I feel often feel like I’m having the kids make crap that flutters their parents cats and kitchen tables until it finds a home in the trash can. This craft looks like something that will still be around tear after year. I don’t have kids of my own yet, can you tell?
Way too cute! Show us how yours turned out.
You are hilarious. I love reading your posts before work most days. Thankfully I work from home, so I can laugh for 5 minutes straight in front of the computer screen without being dragged away to the funny farm.
I am so stealing your “waited until I thought Jesus might return” comment… You always make me laugh
Lo, I say unto you, the craft store known as Michael’s is a scary place, too. You are a brave brave brave woman.
Love the description of poor Mary. So funny!
I was thinking you might end your post with a rhyme, darn it. Just like your other rhyme…you could have said:
And maybe even a boy with his drum.
Pa-rum-pa-pa-pum.
From a long time, every day reader!!! Love your blog…wouldn’t miss it!!
That’s really cute! May be a project for my Sunday School Class.
Is it a prerequisite for a Hobby Lobby employee to be REALLY SLOW or is it their old school registers? Cute pots!
That might be the cutest Christmas craft I’ve seen. I was even thinking that this might be something I should try with my girls this season, but then I saw the supply list and felt all overwhelmed. You lost me at “roll of grapevine”…
These are so cute! The first one is my favorite though. Yay, for crafts that keep little girls busy and moms sane.
Those are precious. Its obvious that Mary, created when Caroline was 3, is without an epidural. But look at the smile on the new Mary; its definitely an epidural smile. . . .
I borrowed this idea from your blog 2 years ago, and my daughter (then 3) crafted us a Nativity!! (I wish I could post a pic!) It is one of my favorite decorations… Thank you for sharing the idea of having her add the 3 wisemen this year! Michael’s here I come!
Well I will never look at a flower pot the same again. What a cute idea. Love it! I love it that you’ll have multiple versions of this too.
I’ve started a tradition where my kids will make ornaments every year. Right now we’ve been working on painting them. That way I can see their progression as they get older. We are making enough for them to have some once they leave home and for me to keep some. We’ve also been giving them to their grandmas.
oh my goodness!!! This is SOOOO timely! I was just trying to round up some craft ideas to do with my son! LOVE this one. He is 3 and obsessed with Santa. I am ready to change gears and remind him of the reason for the season…you know?
PLEASE don’t fall into the trap that the wise men were at the birth of Jesus! They showed a couple of years later . . . you can still make them . . . just put them across the room!!
I think some tiny flowerpots with cotton glued on would make some sweet sheep — add a few googly eyes, perhaps, to give them faces?
I’ve been reading your blog a loooong time, because I remember the first time you posted about this Nativity!
)
I am pretty sure I have waited in that same line, until I thought Jesus was coming back, but it was just a hunger induced mirage. I only craft during the holiday season and I made 30 homemade butterfly and snowflake headbands for all my little ballerinas today (I’m a ballet teacher). This involved hot glue and now my fingertips hurt.
Those flower pot nativities are DARN cute! Sigh. Was it your intention to make me go wait in line again?
My mom has the perfect angel to go with Caroline’s first nativity! I made it in school one year using a sno cone cup, a styrofoam ball, pipe cleaner, and yarn. The eyes are black sequins with straight pins holding them onto the ball! We call it the Nightmare Before Christmas Angel because it looks like something from Tim Burton’s twisted brain! I can’t wait until my son is old enough for Christmas crafts!
I plan to print out that photo of the 3-year-old flower pot nativity just so I can gut laugh when I’m feeling blue. That Mary truly looks like one who would have been through labor and delivery in a barn following a donkey ride! And really, Joseph’s expression is eloquent in itself! It is perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this super cute craft!
I recreated it with my two young daughters & blogged about it here: http://www.pinfluence.com/2011/12/15/away-in-a-manger-how-to-make-a-flower-pot-nativity-set/