Christmas Legends - And A Christmas Rose Craft

Santa Who? by Gail Gibbons is not a book you want to read to a child who still believes in Santa Claus. If however, they know the truth, it's a very nice book for explaining the origins, and rise of the Santa legend. I thought at first it might be too wordy for my younger children, but even C (age 4), sat happily, while I read through it, and it certainly could be read in pieces, as each page takes on a different step in Santa's journey.

Gibbons also describes the other Santa like gift givers, such as La Befana, Christkindl, and Father Christmas, from around the world. The only page that caused me pause, was the one dealing with the wise men, the original Christmas gift givers. It has them arriving in Bethlehem, at the stable, and shows Christ as a baby, still in the manger.

Tomie DePaola's The Story of the Three Wise Kings, has the wise men journeying to Bethlehem, as well, after a short stop in Jerusalem, and it does mention a babe, but the Christ pictured in the illustrations appears to be a toddler, so I liked that better. I liked the overall story, too. DePaola sticks very close to the scriptural, and historical (for their names, and places of origin) account. It actually reminds me a lot of our favorite Christmas animated movie...

...I could almost hear Andy Griffith reading the text. Oh, and the text is short, and flows nicely, and the illustrations are very captivating, making it an excellent story for younger children to enjoy.

The Legend of the Christmas Rose by William H. Hooks, also deals with the Nativity, but from the shepherds' point of view. Or rather, the point of view of the shepherds younger sister, who follows her older brothers to Bethlehem, to see the Baby, but then realizes she has nothing to give Him.

An angel pays her a visit, and when he leaves, she finds herself in the middle of a patch of beautiful, blooming, flowers - Christmas roses, perfect to take to the new King.

Hooks story is pure legend, and while including an angel in it made me uncomfortable, I appreciated the Author's Note, at the back of the book, giving the scientific name, Helleborus niger, for the winter blooming flower, and explaining some of the myths, legends, and truths about it.

The younger girls were inspired to make some Christmas Roses of their own. I loosely followed instructions from Moms and Kids, for their crepe paper daffodil (which looks similar to a Christmas rose).

First the girls cut a sheet of green scrap paper in half.

They rolled the halves, tightly, from corner to corner, to make stems, taping them in place.

I had them make a bend in the top, like a shepherds crook.

They opened a napkin, and after I prefolded it, they folded it up five times (or rather six, because I wasn't paying attention, so we had to cut the extra bit off, before we used it).

Then, they cut it in half.

I drew a petal shape, leaving the bottom of the edges attached, for girls to try to cut (they ended up needing help).

When we unfolded it, and cut off the extra bit, we had 5 petals.

We also folded up a three inch piece of yellow streamer, and cut it with a squiggly cut, so we had two wavy lengths, one for each flower.

They taped those to the top of the stems, and wrapped them, loosely around, to make the middle of the flower, securing the loose end with tape.

Then, they taped on the white petals.

I pinched each petal into place, and taped them, around the bottom.

Finally, we made a few cuts into the yellow center, and spread out the pieces. E, posed with her flowers, for a Christmas picture for the grandparents.

I tried to get a shot of C too, but what can I say? She's four.

For more children's book reviews and recommendations, check out this week's What My Child is Reading blog-hop, hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.



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