In the busy run-up to Christmas day, I seldom do as much Christmas crafting as I’d like. But as the season winds to a close, I like to block off some time and make something pretty and festive. It adds to the fun of Christmas prep the next year, to have a crafted item from the year before that still feels new.

Here’s a little angel ornament that I’ve been working on. Print the file on card stock, find your glue gun, and you can make it too! I drew, colored, and scanned the angel and her four sets of wings and assembled a larger version into a Christmas tree topper. This miniature version makes a lovely ornament and would make a great Epiphany gift, or just be a nice gift to yourself!

It’s a truism that when you set out to draw a face without a model, you almost invariably draw one that looks like your own, or is a mash-up of the faces you look at most often. This angel resembles my eldest daughter, Maria. She has Maria’s coloring and large eyes, and wears the hasty-chop haircut that my daughter and I have been sporting since our preschooler’s encounter with lice a few weeks back.

Her star bears God’s pronouncement on the seventh day of creation “It is very good.”

Our Christmas plans underwent substantial last minute changes this year, and that prompted a great deal of disappointment and gnashing of teeth in our household. I found myself ruminating on how much it is in the nature of love to look at a situation (or the people involved in a situation), to see the messiness and flaws, and nonetheless declare the situation (or the people) “good.” Perhaps, on a strong day, with the sun shining off the Magnolias and woodsmoke in the air, one might even declare them “very good!” It seems that the people who are able to make this declaration are strong in life and love.

As I worked on this angel, her resemblance to my eldest recalled something that my husband’s grandmother told us shortly before her death. Grammy lost her mother while still a young girl: “When my mother died, I felt an angel come into my life. I knew everything would be alright, because of my angel.”

This might sound saccharine to one who didn’t know Grammy; how she, as a girl of 12, she did all the laundry for her father and six siblings; or how she championed her severely disabled son and took care of him until he passed away in his forties; how she continued to weigh in on the family business into her eighties; how she faced her own passing with grace and equanimity. Grammy certainly was a matriarch, with a soul strong in life and love!

Grammy told us that our eldest daughter looked like how this angel appeared in her mind. That Maria was like this angel in flesh.

And so I hope that our tree topper and this little ornament give honor to Grammy and her angel, even as I pray that Grammy’s angel watch over the great-grandchild who has her face.

We, the Ad Gaudium Collective, wish you a Merry Christmas and abundant joy as you journey into 2024. May you entrust 2023 to God’s mercy, and this fresh 2024 to His providence. May you see yourself and the world around you–nits and all—and declare them “very good!”

Directions For Angel Ornament

Materials & Supplies:

scissors
Small Angel Printable on card stock or on regular paper and then glued to cardstock
cardstock or paper for decorative “fans” this might be colored/shiny or plain. I used cardstock for sturdiness, but copy paper would also work.
tape - masking tape, if possible.
cord
hot glue gun and glue

Directions:

Print the pdf file on cardstock, or print on normal paper and glue to cardstock with with a glue stick or other light paper glue.
Cut out the angels and the discs. Heat up your hot glue gun.