Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 462
The Holly and the lvy
Hello Everyone
The Rocky Bay Primary School had their end of term carol concert just before the children broke up for the Christmas holidays.
l went along with Auntie Alice and Captain Jack to see the children singing.
When some parents have to go to work, it might be difficult for them to get away, so it is nice for the children to get lots of support, after they have put so much effort in rehearsing for their show.
There were lots of people in the audience in the end and everyone had a good time.
One of the songs the children sang was The Holly and the lvy.
Do you know it?
lt begins…
The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
The holly is supposed to represent Jesus and the ivy is supposed to represent Mary, his mother.
Auntie Alice has holly and ivy growing in her garden and there is a plentiful supply for the children to collect some sprigs to bring inside to decorate the cottage. There is enough for all the family to decorate their homes too.
You can put little sprigs behind pictures or in a row along the mantle pieces and then it doesn’t take too long to make a room look really Christmassy.
Or you can tie them together to make a garland to hang along the outside of the stair rail or even weave them into a wreath for your front door.
Bringing evergreen foliage into people’s homes has been a tradition for thousands of years.
Dense evergreen plants like holly trees are important for wildlife too. They are often found in people’s gardens as well as parks and woodlands and can make good, dense hedges.
The holly and the ivy are used by the holly blue butterfly and several moths as their caterpillars eat the leaves. They also give homes to birds. The holly berries are food for birds and mice.
Holly trees you see in gardens are usually not very tall, they look more like bushes; but holly can grow up to 15m tall. The shapes of the holly leaves, with their prickly edges, make them very recognisable. The plants in Auntie Alice’s garden sometimes have very dark green glossy leaves and are sometimes patterned with cream or yellow markings. Their flowers are pretty.
The leaves of some holly species are ground up and used to make a kind of tea.
Hollies are native to Europe, northern Africa and parts of Asia and grow in many countries.
Because holly wood is white and has a fine grain it has long been used as inlay when decorating wooden items and has also been used to make musical instruments.
Some hollies have bright red or orange berries which are poisonous to humans and pets; but not to birds.
Their red colour was thought to bring protection from evil spirits and so they were a good decoration to have in the house. Holly berries last well through the winter and not all berries do this.
lvy was also traditionally brought inside to ward off evil spirits.
lvy is a woody climber that creeps along the ground until it finds a tree or hedge and then starts growing up the sides – up to 30m above the ground.
lt does not damage the trees it uses as a support in any way.
Because of the way ivy likes to cling to trees and poles and walls, it became a symbol of love, friendship and togetherness.
lvy likes light rich soil and often lives on the edges of woodland because it likes plenty of light. lt provides pollen and nectar for insects and berries for birds at times of the year when there isn’t much other food around.
lvy is poisonous to people but some animals like cattle like to eat it.
lt gives dense cover for nesting birds in the spring time so is a very valuable plant.
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Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: What kind of music does Santa play for the elves while they are working in his workshop?
Bill: l don’t know, what kind of music does he play?
Bob: Wrap!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Wood inlay
Wood inlay
Ivy is very good for wildlife
It can grow high into a tree’s canopy
Ivy is very obvious in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees
Holly can be various shades of green
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
How is a Christmas tree like a bad knitter?
They both drop their needles!
That was a little joke to start the news desk this week.
It is going to be a short news desk this week though – because I am in a panic.
Eek!
It is the 22nd December and I haven’t even started wrapping my presents yet!
Eek!
I have only just finished doing all my present shopping.
I hope I have bought enough labels!
Eek!
The pile was really very big this year and I brought it over on my little motor boat hoping that nothing would tip off the pile and into the sea as my boat lurched around on the waves.
After I have wrapped them up, I will have to take them back to the mainland to Auntie Alice’s cottage where we will all be gathering for Christmas lunch. I will take Barney my parrot with me too.
If it is raining the pretty paper will get all wet.
Oh dear, I didn’t think this through, did I?
Next year, I think I will take everything after I have bought it to Auntie Alice’s cottage and hide away in the dining room to wrap my presents up on her table and then I can just leave them there.
I can take Captain Jack’s present round to his house with the one from Auntie Alice on her behalf on my way back to the harbour.
I expect she will knit him something; she usually does.
Then I can just leave everything else under the tree in Rose Cottage and I will never have this problem again.
Good plan!
And finally a message for you all…
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Crafty Tip
lf you have run out of present labels and need some in a hurry, these are very easy to make.
Get a rectangle of card and put a hole in one end with a hole-punch.
Draw berries around the hole and a green leaf beside them.
Colour them in, if you want to.
You can use the label as it is but you could also cut the design out.
Make sure whatever you end up with is big enough to write a name on.
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A LlTTLE CONE PERSON
This little cone-shaped person is very cute.
He can be used as a key fob.
He could be used as a counter for a board game – if so you will have to make ones of different colours for other players.
HEAD AND BODY (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and yellow dk yarn cast on 10 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch
Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 2 rows of stocking stitch
Change to white dk yarn
Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch
Don’t cast off
Leave a length of yarn to leave your stitches on
ARMS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and yellow dk yarn cast on 6 stitches
Knit 4 rows of stocking stitch
Change to white dk yarn
Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch
Don’t cast off
Leave a length of yarn to leave your stitches on
BASE (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and yellow dk yarn cast on 25 stitches
Cast off
Curl the knitting into a coil and sew across it to make it into a solid disc
TO MAKE UP
Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew side seams of head, body and also the arms using appropriate colours
Turn right sides out and pull in tops of head and hands in tight
Stuff the body with some stuffing
Stuff the arms with the ends of yarn
Bind a length of white yarn around the neck and pull in tight
Bind a length of white yarn around the wrists and pull in tight
Insert the base and sew into place
Add eyes before or after sewing up
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
