This reindeer Christmas tree ornament is fun (and easy to make) for a variety of ages.
By Andrea Mulder-Slater
What You Need:
- wooden craft sticks
- magic markers
- small pom-poms
- white and black paint (or googly eyes)
- glue
- string
- glitter (optional)
What You Do:
- Color three craft sticks with brown magic markers.
- Place the sticks in a triangle-like pattern, allowing the sticks to overlap at the top, as shown in the illustration.
- Glue the sticks in place.
- When the glue is dry, add a fuzzy pom-pom for a nose and some white and black paint for some eyes. (Instead of painting the eyes, you might wish to glue googly eyes onto the sticks instead.)
- Finally, tie some string to the top stick and hang your reindeer decoration from the tree.
- Make two, three or more and create a herd of critters for your holiday tree.
Did You Know:
Two of Santa’s reindeer have had a few different names. We now know the reindeer as Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.
However, in the year 1823, the story, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (more commonly known as “The Night Before Christmas“) included the reindeer names Dunder and Blixem (Dutch words meaning thunder and lightning).
In 1837, in a later version of the same story, Dunder was changed to Donder and Blixem was changed to Blixen (to rhyme with Vixen).
In yet another version in 1844, Blixen was changed to Blitzen (a German word meaning lightning).
Later, in the 1949 song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer“, the name Donder was changed to Donner (a German word meaning thunder).
