Alright folks, buckle up. Today's share is about this little idea I had for Christmas decorations – "Saints for Christmas". Yeah, sounded kinda out there even to me at first, but hey, let’s see how it went down.
So, Where It Started
Got up real early last Saturday. Had this itch in my brain, you know? Christmas decorations are always the same old stuff – trees, elves, Santa… boring. Started thinking, why not something different? Why not saints? They’re sorta the original Christmas crew, right? Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men? Bam. Idea landed.
Felt excited, kinda like a kid with a new Lego set. Drank my coffee way too fast while staring at my dusty craft shelf in the corner of the room. Saw half-used paints, some dried-up clay. Thought, “Yeah, let's do this.”
Round One: Digging and Mixing
First step? Raid the shelf. Dug out:
- This old block of air-dry clay, harder than a rock honestly.
- Paints that looked suspiciously crusty.
- A few wonky paintbrushes.
- Zero plan.
Chipped away at the clay like I was mining diamonds. Got annoyed. Stuck the whole brick in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel for an hour. Watched some random baking show while I waited. Clay finally softened up… a bit.
Started mashing it with my hands. Felt cold and slimy, reminded me of old pizza dough. Got messy. Clay bits stuck under my nails, smeared on the table. Kinda gross, but kept going.
Trying to Make Saints (And Failing)
Okay. Let’s make Mary. Started rolling a ball for her head. Easy. Pinched a little blob for a body. Connected 'em. Looked more like a ghost snowman. Fine. Gave her robe shape by pulling the clay down. Nope. Tore it. Had to smoosh it together again. Arms were a nightmare. Made two tiny snakes, stuck 'em on. One fell off immediately. Used a drop of water like glue. Worked? Barely.
Joseph was next. Worse. His beard got all lumpy. The Wise Men? Forget about fancy clothes or crowns. Managed three vaguely dude-shaped blobs holding little dots of clay that were supposed to be gifts. Looked like they were holding pebbles. Set them aside to dry feeling kinda defeated. They looked terrible.
Painting Was Ugly Business
Came back the next day. Clay was dry and pale. Time for paint. Cracked open the blue for Mary’s robe. Paint was thicker than yogurt. Added water, made it runny. Went on all streaky. Joseph’s brown robe looked like mud. And the faces? Oh boy. Trying to paint eyes felt like micro-surgery with a brush too big. Ended up with blobs for eyes and crooked lines for mouths. The Wise Men looked like they had clown sickness. Absolute disaster.
Put the paint down. Stepped back. Looked like a kindergarten art project gone wrong. Thought about binning the whole lot.
The Salvage Operation
But I’d wasted clay! And time! Had to salvage this. Glanced at the mess. Noticed something. Yeah, they were rough. Crude, even. But… there was something kinda sweet about them. They were handmade. Wonky. Real.
Took a deep breath. Found a tiny paintbrush I’d missed. Used my thinnest red paint. Didn’t try perfect details. Just gave Mary a tiny hint of a smile line. Joseph? Dabbed a bit of white on his beard to look like light catching it. The Wise Men got simple gold dots on their heads – crowns of sorts. Embraced the roughness instead of fighting it.
Found a scrap piece of wood outside, sanded the splinters off. That became the base. Hot-glued my weird little saints onto it. Not a stable manger, mind you. More like they were standing on a dock.
The Surprise
Placed them on my shelf near the actual Christmas tree. Walked away. Later, my nephew popped over. Kid’s brutally honest. Saw them. Pointed. “What are those?” I braced myself. He squinted. Then grinned. “They look funny. But cool! Did you make Mary?”
That’s when it clicked. Maybe perfection wasn’t the point. Maybe it was the idea. The act of making something for the season, even if it’s messy. The saints, as ugly as they were, started feeling right. Like a personal reminder of Christmas being about humble beginnings, you know? Not shiny perfection.
They’re still on my shelf. Still a bit of a mess. But now they’re my messy little Saints for Christmas. Cheaper than store-bought, and definitely more memorable. Lesson learned? Sometimes the messed-up projects turn out to have the most heart. Happy crafting!
