By the end of this week and the passing of Twelfth Night, most of us will have taken down our Christmas decorations. But there is no reason why one sort of tree couldn't be a feature throughout the year!
Anna Chaplain Maggie Rich devised a 'Blessings tree', especially for the festive season. She told us how it was in the foyer of the care home she visits regularly from the beginning of Advent. 'The deputy manager was the first one to add an angel to it', she said.
'The tree was from Hobbycraft. I was a bit doubtful about introducing a sprayed branch as it would have been less stable (than a traditional fir tree).' However, the branches worked well.
'For the angels, I used 1.5 inch wired ribbon (a bit smaller than ones for a Christmas tree), 12 inches (six pleats) for the skirt and 8 inches (four pleats) for the wings.'
There are plenty of little videos on YouTube, she explained, that show how to put them together using various materials. For inspiration, you might like to watch youtube.com/watch?v=xl8bC_svwEo or youtube.com/watch?v=6G7baeoVkRo.
'They were well received by families (and the care home) and I had to make more angels halfway through December as they were so popular. A tag attached to each angel had enough space to write on and to ask a blessing on a particular family member or friend.
'This week I will take the tree down and take the angels to people whose names are on them, and hopefully it will be a lead on to all sorts of conversations.'
So you see it is not too late to devise a similar blessings tree which would work for other times of the year.
Decorated tags, or at Easter some chicks? Or maybe hearts or stars might be appropriate?
Let your imaginations run wild!
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