Christmas Bells
I have been gathering Christmas fabrics and ephemera for quite a while so I had a really nice collection of bits to work with here. I always start with some watercolour or mixed media paper that I tea dye and then add inks in whatever colours I'm working with. Then I added pages from several vintage Christmas carol booklets that I have found at estate sales. I also had some family Christmas cards, bits of wrapping paper and tags from gifts. I made the cover by taking apart a vintage velvety Christmas stocking that had sweet little brass jingle bells. I then layered on some Christmas Suffolk puffs, and some Prima flowers left over from my scrap booking days. I love how it turned out.
I had so many lovely materials to work with to work with, I even had saved some candy wrappers from my favourite sweets, and they made cute little frames. Be creative and think about all the little bits of paper wrapping or packaging you can use, I added some gorgeous little vintage embroidered handkerchiefs, bits of lace to make pockets, pages from a vintage children's Christmas book, even the programme from our Candlelight church service. All these can tell your family Christmas story, your traditions, and what makes the season special to you.
If you're anything like me, I know you will have kept little notes, tags, cards, photos from your Christmas's past, all you need are some Christmasy fabrics, a few pieces of red quilt and you can sew together a journal to hold all your precious Christmas memories.
That Christ our Saviour was born!
Earth's Redeemer, to save us from all danger,
And, as the Holy Record tells, born in a manger.
Chorus --
Then ring, ring, Christmas bells,
Till your sweet music o'er the kingdom swells,
To warn the people to respect the morn
That Christ their Saviour was born.
The snow was on the ground when Christ was born,
And the Virgin Mary His mother felt very forlorn
As she lay in a horse's stall at a roadside inn,
Till Christ our Saviour was born to free us from sin.
Oh! think of the Virgin Mary as she lay
In a lowly stable on a bed of hay,
And angels watching O'er her till Christ was born,
Therefore all the people should respect Christmas morn.
The way to respect Christmas time
Is not by drinking whisky or wine,
But to sing praises to God on Christmas morn,
The time that Jesus Christ His Son was born;
Whom He sent into the world to save sinners from hell
And by believing in Him in heaven we'll dwell;
Then blest be the morn that Christ was born,
Who can save us from hell, death, and scorn.
Then he warned, and respect the Saviour dear,
And treat with less respect the New Year,
And respect always the blessed morn
That Christ our Saviour was born.
For each new morn to the Christian is dear,
As well as the morn of the New Year,
And he thanks God for the light of each new morn.
Especially the morn that Christ was born.
Therefore, good people, be warned in time,
And on Christmas morn don't get drunk with wine
But praise God above on Christmas morn,
Who sent His Son to save us from hell and scorn.
There the heavenly babe He lay
In a stall among a lot of hay,
While the Angel Host by Bethlehem
Sang a beautiful and heavenly anthem.
Christmas time ought to be held most dear,
Much more so than the New Year,
Because that's the time that Christ was born,
Therefore respect Christmas morn.
And let the rich be kind to the poor,
And think of the hardships they do endure,
Who are neither clothed nor fed,
And Many without a blanket to their bed.
