Cool, Creative, and Crafty: 2018

The reason I made this is because our older daughter decided to serve a mission to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was assigned to serve in the France Paris mission and recently left for the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. It was hard enough to have her gone for the holidays, let alone 18 months!

I think of her Every. Single. Day. I wanted her to have something to open every day while she was away from us in the MTC. I envision her opening the gift, reading the scripture out loud with her companions, and hanging them on the tree. (It's definitely a sparkly picture in my mind!) She doesn't have a lot of room (think of a college dorm room with 3 other girls), so I had to make it small. And she won't take it with her when she leaves for France. She can just send home what she wants to keep.

There are so many more names of Jesus Christ you can find in the scriptures. I just limited it to 25 so she can have a small gift to open up Every. Single. Day. leading up to Christmas! And I had friends asking me for the idea, so here we go!

The Tree

Fabric Tree (or a small fake tree)
Wooden Dowel
Jute String

She doesn't have much space, so I ordered a fabric panel online of a tree. If you are super creative, just make your own! Here's the link where I found this one:
https://www.equilter.com/product/246141/supernova-snowy-tree-green-42-x-44-panel-digital-print
(It took about 4 days to arrive in the mail. I had to finish the edges and sew a small casing for a wooden dowel. Tied the ends of the dowel with jute string and it's ready to hang on a door or closet.)

Names of Christ

Here's the list, scripture references, and items I chose to use for gifts. Again, there are SO MANY MORE names of Christ, these just worked for what I wanted to use.

Printable Ornament Tags

Ribbon
Hole Punch
Laminator (optional)
Safety Pins

These are the style of ornaments I created. Obviously you can make your own or feel free to use these. They are just JPGS- you can copy and paste them right into your own document and size them the way you like. There are blank ones as well.

Here's what some of them looked like when I cut them out, laminated them, and put on a ribbon.

Gifts and Tags

Choosing gifts is all up to you! I found a lot at Hobby Lobby, Deseret Bookstore, Target, and Walmart. This part was SO MUCH FUN!! Wrap them up the way you want. (I put mine in brown paper bags with tissue paper.) Attach the ornament gift tags and number each one in the order you want them opened. (I selected Emmanuel to be opened on Christmas Day.)