Last week, I made a power point presentation for my 3rd - 6th grade classes and taught about Christmas in America. I ended up having lots of teachers come sit in the back to watch my classes and learn about how we do things in America during this time of year! Even my Principal and Vice Principal came to listen. It was fun to see their shocked at seeing pictures like these:
They NEVER use real trees as Christmas trees in Korea! ...and they've never seen anyone tie a tree to the top of their car! They burst into laughter when they saw this picture!
They were shocked that we hang lights on our house! They've seen Christmas lights used to decorate the nearby Department store, but never as decoration on a house! After seeing this, they were ALL ready to move abroad!
They couldn't believe that we build little Santa Villages in the middle of malls and that you can meet Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas!
All of the adult's excitement and positive reactions to Christmas in America got me thinking... craft thinking that is! I decided I would make special handmade Christmas gifts for the 6 teachers who I have tea with every morning. They've never owned a stocking or tasted Christmas sugar cookies! So, last Thursday I got to work and crafted all weekend long to make these fun gifts!
I saw this idea on Pinterest and KNEW I had to try it! After days of searching, I finally found a store that sold tiles... it was a toilet store! haha Once I found the tiles, I chose a picture and had 6 copies made. Then I cut the pictures to fit the tile and mod podged them on. Then I bought clear coating spray paint and sprayed to seal them! They're not perfect, but the teachers loved them and thought they were so special! They had never seen tile picture coasters and all begged me to teach them how to make them!
I couldn't just give them coasters, so I went shopping and found 6 adorable red and white patterned coffee mugs for $2.00 each to go with the coasters! SCORE! But, then the cups looked bare, so I spent all day Sunday making all different types and shapes of sugar cookies, white chocolate dipped oreos with crushed candy cane pieces, sugar cookies mixed with a vanilla oreo (YUM!), chocolate dipped pretzels, and sugar cookies topped with chocolate chips and red sugar sprinkles (made by mixing red dye and sugar!) to put inside the cups!
On Friday, one of the teachers I have tea time with saw the stocking I made for Aaron last year and went crazy about it! So, I decided to make handmade Christmas stockings too! I went to a nearby market and bought a plaid scarf for $1.00, used a broken faux pearl necklace that I had laying around as decoration, and some left over ribbon in my craft box to top it off. I sewed and decorated each of the 6 a little different from the other! Then I free handed the names with a bottle of glue and wrote over it (after it had dried) with a gold paint marker! I had to work with what I could find!
I could barely sleep last night because I was so excited to give my teacher friends their handmade Christmas gifts! I packed them in this picnic basket and carried them all the way to work! The look on their faces when I handed them their gifts, and their excitement and appreciation made all the time and effort that went into these COMPLETELY worth it!
Merry Christmas everyone!