Saturday, December 10, 2011

Winter Holiday Blog Hop



Welcome to the Winter Holiday Blog Hop being hosted by yours truly! Grab a hot chocolate, sit back and enjoy. I know you will find many things to love by the 9 women joining me in this hop. 


Back in October my mother and I went to a large craft show in Oklahoma City. One booth was crawling in spiders. They were all over the booth, laying around and hanging on a Christmas tree. I was very confused. The man then told us about the Legend of the Christmas Spider. They were even selling a book about The Christmas Spider.  Mom just had to get one. Being a teacher, I had to get the book AND 2 spiders - one for my house and one to use in my classroom (when I get one again).

Mom and I made some Christmas Spiders to be given to the children at my church. I got on line and looked at the various versions of the story. This is the story that we liked best. Each child will also get a copy of the story when they get their spider.

The Legend of the Christmas Spider
 Once upon a time, long ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year....the day on which the Christ Child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left anywhere. Even the spiders had been banished from their cozy corner in the ceiling. To avoid the housewife's busy cleaning, they finally fled to the farthest corner of the attic.

T’was Christmas Eve at last! The tree was decorated and the children were delighted. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the Christ Child's visit. The oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could peep through the crack in the door to see him. Silently they crept out of their attic, down the stairs, and across the floor to wait in the crack in the threshold. Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit and quickly the spiders scurried into the room. They must see the tree closely, since their eyes weren't accustomed to the brightness of the room... so the crept all over the tree, up and down, over every branch and twig and saw every one of the pretty decorations. At last they satisfied themselves completely of the Christmas tree’s beauty.

But alas!! Everywhere they went they had left their webs, and when the little Christ Child came to bless the house he was dismayed. He loved the little spiders, for they were God's creatures too, but he knew the mother, who had trimmed the tree for the little children, wouldn't feel the same, so He touched the webs and they all turned to sparkling, shimmering, silver and gold!

Ever since that time, we have hung tinsel on our Christmas trees, and according to the legend, it has been a custom to include a spider among the decorations on the tree.

 A folk legend from Germany and the Ukraine.

Here are a couple of the spiders we made.




I hope you are having a wonder Christmas Season. I can't believe Christmas is almost here. I am sooooooo not ready. I have purchased very few gifts. I better get to work. Don't really know when we will be able to finish. :(

Well enjoy the hop. Here is the line up!

1.  VinDeeLoo - VinDeeLoo's This 'n That! <-----You are HERE!
2.  Alina - Addicted to Scrapbooking!!!! -----> Go Here Next!
3.  Paula - Scrap Your World
4.  Jessica - That's Uneek
5.  Yolonda - Crafty Scentiments
6.  Martha - A Scrapping Time
7.  Leah - Leah's Card Designs
8.  Lissa - So Many Crafts, So Little Time
9.  Sigrid - LoveScrapReflect
10. Monica - Scraps 2 Treasure

Everyone have a Merry Christmas and safe travels!
Until next time ~ VinDeeLooAddicted to Scrapbooking!!!!

15 comments:

ShersL84bed said...

oh my goodness, those spiders looks so real. Yikes!

Smiles sher
ShersL84bed@aol.com

ScrapChica said...

Hello! I'm a new follower. I loved your Xmas story. Your spiders came out great. :) TFS! Merry Christmas!

Leah said...

Oh neat - we have a tradition in our house, but with the Christmas Pickle - I'll share that this week. Like the story about the spiders and the tinsel. Thank you for sharing.


Leah
Http://www.leahscarddesigns.com
Leah@leahscarddesigns.com

Scrappers' Ranch said...

Oh this is very interesting! The spiders do look very real.
TFS
Bonnie
htp://ascrapabvoe.blogspot.com
ascrapabove at aol dot com

Addicted Scrapper said...

Very nice story and I would have never thought about a spider for Christmas but I love it!!! Sorry again that I was late!!

ScrapYourWorld said...

thanks for including the story on your post. I had never heard of this before!! Your spiders look so real, you did a great job. Thanks for letting me in on the group hop. I have enjoyed hopping with you.
Paula
www.faithful2god_2000@yahoo.com
www.scrapyourworld1.blogspot.com

ibecircled.blogspot.com said...

Thanks for sharing this story,I have never heard this before! Your spiders look great!! TFS!!

http://ibecircled.blogspot.com
ilovetonkinese2 at hotmail dot com
Rexann♥

lindaplus3 said...

ive heard the story,, my sister gave us all one a few years back.. :) MERRY CHRISTMAS,,,,lindaplusthree at yahoo dot com

Unknown said...

What a wonderful story thanks for sharing.

To start, make a foundation chain of 5, join with a slip stitch to the first chain to form a ring.
Round 1 - ch3, 2dc, ch3, *3dc, ch3. Repeat from the * 3 more times (5 dc clusters and 5 ch3's total). Join with a slip stitch to the 3rd ch of the starting ch3. Round 2 - slip stitch into the next 2 dc and into the first ch3 space. ch3, 2dc, ch3, 3dc, 1hdc in 2nd dc of next dc cluster. *3dc, ch3, 3dc in next ch3 space, 1hdc in 2nd dc of next dc cluster. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Join with a slip stitch in 3rd chain of starting ch3.
Round 3 - Sip stitch into next 2 dc and into first dc ch3 space. Ch3, 3dc, ch4, 4dc, 1sc on either side of hdc from previous round.
4dc, ch4, 4dc in next ch3 space, 1sc on either side of next hdc from previous round. Repeat from * 3 more times. Join with a slip stitch in 3rd chain from starting ch3. Fasten off and weave in ends...
These stars are great sewn into a garland or hung by themselves on your tree would look divine. Why not make them in a thick cotton for a Xmas-y themed washer..

lovescrapreflect said...

interesting story im not spider fan they freak me out but your spiders are pretty

Trisha said...

Second time this weekend that I have heard the spider story. Yours are really cool. TFS. patnbobcuddy at gmail dot com

Yolonda said...

Cool story. Thanks for hosting the hop.

Scrappin' Sista said...

I absolutely love this! Your spiders turned out great!!! Amazing!!! Thanks for sharing.

Christel
http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com

Lissa said...

now that is unique, something I have never heard of!

Jess B. said...

very interesting story. Hey it's one of God's creations. Let everything that lives and that breathes give praise to the Lord. A child is born. Amen TFS