By Georgina Wilcox

In many countries, it is a long-held tradition to gather with the family during the days leading to Christmas to make Christmas crafts. As early as the 18th century, society women gathered with their friends to make Christmas crafts. They made, among other things, such items as small Christmas stars and paper packages, which could contain sugar almonds and other delicacies.

Family gatherings at the holidays are a combination of celebrating the new and remembering the old. The families share their different holiday greetings, memories and dreams for one another and themselves as they reflect and celebrate life. A delightful Christmas craft to make for your next holiday greeting are holiday photo coasters. These easy to make Christmas crafts are a delightful way to decorate your holiday table, use for place card holders and share images from holidays gone by.

The first step to take when making this easy to make Christmas craft is to gather photos of each family member, if possible gather picture of visits with Santa, Christmas morning and kids under the Christmas tree. Using the old and new photos for Christmas dÈcor is a great way to combine the magic of the holiday both for the young and the old. Children love to see childhood pictures of their mom, dad, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Seeing their relatives in the same childhood situations as they are experiencing make the idea of their parents as children much more real. In addition, these delightful childhood photographs will bring up fun and interesting stories of childhood memories for the older relatives that the children might not have ever heard before.

The next step is to gather the supplies and equipment necessary to make these Christmas crafts. To make Christmas crafts such as photo coasters, you will need 1/8î Plexiglas cut into 3 Ω ì square, allowing two squares per coaster. You will need to make copies of the different Christmas photos that you gathered, making sure not to damage the original copies. You will also need 3/8î foil tape and self adhesive felt circles. The process of creating each holiday coaster is very easy. Clean all the squares of Plexiglas; making sure that each is dry prior to production. Crop the photo to fit into the square, writing names and dates on the back of each photo as you go. Position the photo exactly as you want it to appear within the coaster when completed, and then cover with the second square.

Hold the squares firmly together using small binder clips to make sure that neither the photo nor the squares move. Holding the square firmly in your palm, slightly peel the foil tape and begin to apply it to the square, moving slowly wrapping it around the front and back Plexiglas square equally, removing each binder clip as you attach the foil tape. Smooth the tape and slowly keep working your way around the square, smoothing the corners as you move along. When you reach the end corner, make sure that the tape is smoothed out, using a wooden spoon handle to help remove any air bubbles that might remain. When done, attach four felt circles just under the inside corners of the photograph.