~ decorating christmas tree ~

19 December 2009

after tree hunting for a few days, yesterday, we finally found one that fit within the budget and not too big for the house. aina was super excited with the tree. so today, we started the decoration…

we put the tree together and added some beads we bought from Spotlight. i didn’t know that fake christmas trees come with pine cones, but aina looooved those little things.

decorating the xmas tree   decorating the xmas tree

after the tree is up at the corner of the living room, we started making the tree decorations to hang. when i was little, my aunt and i made simple christmas tree decorations ourselves. the idea is to have aina make those. but she’s still too small, so we had to help her with the drawing, cutting and glueing.

we starts with the supplies:

decorating xmas tree


  • a stack of card paper, left-over from aina’s flash card that we made when she was 2 months old…
  • black waterproof marker
  • coloring pens
  • a very thin red ribbon
  • glue and scissors (not pictured)

so, first, fold the card paper in the middle, so we have it folded like a book. then ari starts to draw on one side. we drew many things like santa, snowman, christmas tree, bells, mistletoes, star… etc.

decorating xmas tree

we then give the finished drawing to aina and let her color it. she’s not very good in coloring yet, and it keeps going off the line and all. but that’s okay… we’re planning to keep these kind of things as mementoes for later. so we think the imperfection is actually rather cute :)

decorating xmas tree

after aina finishes coloring, i cut the drawing along with the folded paper underneath it. so, at the end, i have two pieces of the same shape. these two pieces will be glued together, back-to-back.

decorating xmas tree

then, i cut the ribbon to about 20cm in length or enough to make a loop for hanging. smeare the glue on one side of the cut piece, then place the cut ribbon on the top of the piece in a loop form. after that, place the other cut piece on top before the glue dries. so now i can hang the snowman, christmas tree or whatever you make on the tree.

decorating xmas tree

but since the other side of the hanging decoration is till empty, we give it back to ari to draw the mirror image of whatever on the other side.

decorating xmas tree

and let aina color it as well…

decorating xmas tree

then, we let her hang it on the tree. tonight, we only finished three ornaments… aina ran out of steam by the time we’re doing the fourth. so, we probably continue making it tomorrow and the next day.

decorating xmas tree

next year, we probably will make the beads ourselves, too.

—-

ps: this entry hs also been rewritten and published as an article at The Urban Mama website.

~ comment (8) ~

aduhhhh..bagus banget!!!! thal, murid2 aku di tk umur 5 taon aja ngewarnainnnya lbh brantakan!! aina pegang spidolnya aja uda profesional banget!!! hahahahaha
dasar..keluarga artist..

Jessi | 21 December 2009 - 09:56 | reply

hahaha, ini juga baru diajarin, jes… seminggu yang lalu! sebelumnya sih juga terbang2 gitu…

thalia | 21 December 2009 - 11:40 | reply

waduh, kita jd ikutan excited nih, pengen lihat pohon natal Aina yg pertama….

mimi | 21 December 2009 - 10:09 | reply

hihihi, ntar malem ya… sebenernya sih agak plain. soalnya, masih blum sempet lagi nerusin gambar2nya. ari lagi sibuuuuuuk banget ama kerjaan.

tp gpp deh, biar makin bertambah taunnya, makin rame :)

thalia | 21 December 2009 - 11:42 | reply

Wah…senangnya kalo bisa gambar begitu….Aina pastinya bakalan jago gambar juga nih… :)

Brenda | 21 December 2009 - 09:22 | reply

Brenda, ga usah bisa gambar kok! yg waktu gue masih kecil itu, bikinnya dari gambar2 item putih yang digunting2 dari majalah Bobo… kapan2 coba aja ajak Vanya bikin. siapa tau seneng :)

thalia | 22 December 2009 - 01:33 | reply

Watch out, she’s the next artist in the family. what a good colorer. good job, lil’ ms. aina!

anna | 24 December 2009 - 04:57 | reply

hahaha, thank you, anna… :) in real life, it looks much more messy, really…

thalia | 25 December 2009 - 02:11 | reply