Holly Wreath Counted Cross Stitch Calendar

There is another fun thing we do/did as a family. I say did because I gave mine to my son and his new wife this year. I totally intended to make one for them, but alas my eyes and fingers don't work like they use to. Anyway, in 1990 I received my Keepsake Calendar. It was a yearly publication by Leisure Arts which has sadly stopped. It was a calendar that had counted cross stitch patterns for each month. The one for December was this one. I modified the original one to use red hearts instead of various painted wooden Christmas toys. I painted the wood hearts red and on one side I wrote a Bible verse and on the other side I wrote the name of Jesus that the verse refers to. It was a fun game and even after years they never knew them all. When they were younger I would put 2 small candies in the pockets. Each morning, at our breakfast devotion time, we would take the heart out. One child would read the reference. We would all try and guess what name it suggested, then the other child would look up the verse. We would see who was right and talk about the verse. They would take the candy to school with them in their lunch, but I suspect they ate it before lunch! I have fond memories of this little game. When my daughter Mary started her new home, I gave her one I made for her. This year I gave Geno the one I still had at home so he and his new wife could start the tradition.

Here is a close up.....

If you would like to do the project and can not find the calendar, (maybe on eBay) let me know and I will send you the instructions.


This is the copy from the calendar. As you can see there are little wooden Christmas figures, toys. The information for your search is:
1990 Keepsake Calendar
copyright-1989 Craftways Corporation, 4118 Lakeside Drive, Richmond, CA 94806.