I thought this would be a great way to help my family look for and recognize the good things that people do to serve others at Christmastime, and hopefully encourage them to do kind deeds as well. Adding straw to the manger is a good physical reminder that when we serve others, we serve Christ.
While the girls were napping yesterday, I cut all the pieces needed to build a wooden manger. When they woke up, we had fun hammering them together. Reese and Quincy hammered all 22 nails into that bad boy! A few had to be pulled out and redone, but we really had fun.
It is lopsided, the nails are crooked, and it took us 2 hours, rather than 10 minutes. They stayed on task and worked really hard and to me, it is perfect!
I didn't think to take pictures until close to the end, as I was focused on making sure my children didn't hammer one another. You can hear in the video where I panic a little when Quincy starts waving the hammer around.We used a cedar fence picket ($1..98 @ Lowe's), 1 1/4 inch finishing nails, and 4 recycled yard stakes that we had from the fence (I just cut the pointed ends off).
We had so much fun, and had extra supplies, so we made two, and for FHE, we filled the extra manger with holiday goodies, the girls chose a friend, and delivered it to their family. It was so fun to start a new tradition, and then share the tradition with someone else, that we might continue to make them in coming years to give to someone different each year.
I think we will keep our manger under the tree with all the other Christmas gifts.
