Hanging of the Greens

The first Friday in December is Hanging of the Greens at James River Day School. Our tradition for this special day is that students work with their Cardinal Buddies to make ornaments for the holidays. Once assembled, the ornaments are hung on the school's two holiday trees.

This year, students had their pictures taken with their Cardinal Buddies earlier in the week, and those pictures were used in the creation of the ornaments. The older students were challenged to write out directions for how to assemble the ornaments. Here are seventh grader Noah Paul's directions.

When you start this process, you will have the following.

A set amount of empty ornaments
A set amount of pictures based on how many cardinal buddies are in group (i.e. a group of two cardinal buddies would have two pictures of themselves with their cardinal buddy)
A spool of ribbon

To create your ornament, follow these directions.

Each cardinal buddy group will cut off a small piece of ribbon. These pieces of ribbon should be just long enough to make a knot.
Tie the pieces of ribbon through the hole at the top of each picture. Make a relatively loose knot.
Pull the top part of the ornament out. Curl the picture so that it will fit inside the hole in the ornament.
Shake the ribbon around so that the picture will unfold inside the ornament. Place the cap back on the ornament.

Congratulations! Each student now has an ornament to take home for the holidays!

Later in the day, the students also enjoy a "cookie party." Each child received (and enjoyed) a sugar cookie, a clementine, a small glass of Sprite, and a candy cane. Of course, the Sprite must be stirred with the candy cane so it's pink and pepperminty and the clementines were peeled such that the skins become spirals and other fun shapes.