This week we made Mrs. Boekhout’s FAVOURITE craft of the year… Yule Logs! This craft comes from an old English custom, the bringing of the Yule (Christmas) Log. These logs were HUGE because they had to burn for all TWELVE DAYS of Christmas! Can you imagine how big those fireplaces had to be? In those days, the only heat for the house came from a fireplace, so no wonder they were large. At the end of the 12 days, a small pile of kindling (little sticks) from the Yule log was carefully saved so that they could be used to light the next year’s Christmas fire! Mrs. Boekhout was taught this craft by her best friend, who is English. She has been making Yule logs for 25 years now!
The most important part of this craft is the log, of course, and Mrs. Boekhout is lucky to have her very own “Christmas Lumberjack“! Mr. Nussle has been supplying beautiful logs (he even drills holes for the candles!) for more than 10 years now! Both of his girls (who were in Mrs. B’s Grade 2 class) are now in University! Wow… that’s a long time!
You can see the steps in the photos… first we hammer a cardboard base so that the log won’t scratch the dining room table. Next comes the “snow” (secret ingrediant!), it has to look like it is gently sliding down the sides of the log. We arrange real greenery, like a skirt, outwards from the candle hole. Then special ornaments are carefully placed on top and the candle is added. The final touches are a dusting of “glitter frost” on the tips of the leaves and fluffy “snow” glued along the base of the log. Each log is SO DIFFERENT and SO BEAUTIFUL!
Yule Log Christmas Craft from Nora Boekhout on Vimeo.