Jesus and Knitting

I love Christmas.  I love thinking about the birth of Jesus and how humble it was.  There were animals and dirt and crusty stone feeding troughs.  Can you imagine?  Birthing a child in all those germs?  )My mysophobe friends may now shudder.)  Yet, God chose that.  For himself.  For Mary.  For the visitors.  It's so wonderous. I love it.

It comforts me, also.  When I start to feel a bit annoyed that I don't have money to buy the gifts I want to buy or the decorations I want to put up, I think of those crusty places that Jesus laid his head.  It makes me feel comforted.  And spoiled.

In honor of those humble thoughts and not having money, I like to make things at Christmas time.  Also, I just like to make things.


One of my favorite new creations this year is this wreath.  We have a gargantuan pine tree in our front yard that has probably been alive since Jesus was born.  It throws pine cones down like nobody's business.  I used some foam we had to cut out a ring, hot glued 5,000 pine cones to it, and added grapevine twigs to fill the spaces (also from the yard).  Then I dusted it with a fine scatter of white glitter to give it a hint of sparkle.  Its simplicity makes me happy.



As you may have read before, my latest obsession is knitting.  You know I had to knit some Christmas stuff.  Knitting goes with Christmas like grits on a breakfast plate.  I knitted three scarves, two hats, and these...



I had always wanted to make my own stockings.  Knitted stockings.  Yeah baby.

And then there's my ornament tradition.  Have I told you about my ornament tradition?  Every year, since my first child was born, I've made my children each an ornament for Christmas.  Sometimes I paint it, sometimes I glue things or pin things or fill a glass ball, every year is different.  Last year I had learned to sew, so I made these little stuffed candy canes out of an old pink, red and white striped shirt the girls had both worn and grown out of.  This year, I'll give you one guess what my chosen craft was.

I'm too predictable.

I knitted these little bird ornaments from a pattern that is available free to download here.  Forget the wreath.  These are my favorite creations from this year.  How.  Stinkin.  Cute.  I stitched the girls' initials and the year on the underside. 

I wonder if Mary knitted anything.  Surely she made some things in anticipation of the birth.  A blanket? Maybe a sheep and cow mobile? God knitted: "You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews." Job 10:11

Oh look, the dirt on the door also reminds me of Jesus' birth!  How convenient we have so much of that around here too.

Merry Christmas!