Gathering Gold: Leaf Walks, Childhood Wonder, and Handmade Holiday Gifts

I’ve been thinking about holiday gifts for my class. I have 8 students with my youngest at nearly three and my oldest who turned 6 at the beginning of August. I love autumn leaves and have wanted for several years to paint a whole wall of individual leaf portraits. Not there yet but someday… So on our nature walk the other day, I gave the directive that we could each gather a leaf for our lunch table. Well, as you might have guessed, we all came back with bouquets of leaves, peach, pecan, sweet gum, one prettier than the last. The maple tree in front of our school is full of golden leaves, more falling by the day, so the window is narrow for our leaf collecting excursions. When we get there..under the maple with all the gold and the blue puzzled in above/between, we pull out our Circle song …It’s golden in the treetops…it’s golden in the sky..golden golden golden…November passing by (in the Wynstone Autumn book—our version slightly revised).

It feels a little urgent to get a look at all the colored leaves before the trees are bare, like we’ll miss something extraordinary if we don’t pay attention, so we do our best to take a little walk even if we are a few minutes late for our snack. (I don’t think I look like I am aware of Life literally passing by but I am ..noticing this ephemeral gifting from the universe even though I’ve seen it for years and years. You will know what I mean.) And even though I carry this understanding—the leaves will crackle into soil, the trees puzzle out much bigger pieces of sky…without the wonderful red orange golden frames—Interest, even fascination, delight are the main things on our walks around the school.

We travel out the West gate and under the sweetgum tree on our way to the orchard and the giant maple. (We have a busy street on the other side of the orchard so we keep each other safe with our nature walk rules: no running, hold your partner’s hand, teacher leads, quiet as we go …so maybe we will spot animal neighbors.)

Even though we take the same path—maybe changing direction now and then if something wildly inviting is nearer this way than that—our walk is always its own thing, the view changing almost by the day. The sky looks different this Friday from last, this season from last, when it has the horsetail clouds combed across from when it is—for a bit of September—that particular shade of blue. Two weeks ago the persimmon tree held a hundred nearly ripe persimmons and now the tree is bare even of leaves. Few flowers line the walks right now but the mint in the flower pot still has leaves for chewing. And enough leaves are still falling for the children to gather into piles for rolling in.

So as I felt Christmas coming nearer and the leaves so inviting, it seemed like … what about a little leaf pouch for Christmas with a seed baby tucked inside? We had painted leaf shaped paintings a few weeks back so this feels like a happy extension we are living into.

Here are a few ideas and resources if you feel like it’s a good fit:

Paradise Fibers is lovely for all the gorgeous Bulky wool yarn you will want whether you want the project for your own gift giving to the children or you want to teach the children finger crochet (which we’ve done in my class; I just facilitate stitch by stitch with the littlest ones), or you want to use a version to help the children to make family gifts (like a finger crochet garland if your children seem to love the rhythm, the Work and accumulation of their stitching.)

I’ve used straight pressed wool felt on one side of the pouch (it’s thinner, less obviously fibrous), and I used the thicker wool felt on the other side; both types as well as a variety of colors are available from Weir Craft (they made the doll kits we use in the Lifeways training). I use silk thread (six-stranded embroidery floss splitting to use just one strand at a time) with a blanket stitch. You’ll stitch the finger crocheted (one, two or three stranded bulky yarn) handle on when you’ve got it all stitched. (If you are teaching your children finger crochet, they will work for a good while with just one strand; when they really have that, you can complicate their tracking with two strands, teach them the slip knot to begin and the simple close by pulling the end thru the last loop.) You can stitch leaf veining—or not—(because I have so many sixes and nearly sixes, I opted on some pouches to put a bit of veining, but it’s just as pretty without) either before you stitch back & front together or after.

If leaves don’t float your boat, but you like the idea of a pouch —for treasures, like a stone, —1st light of Advent—, seeds —2nd light of Advent—, yarn ball —3rd light (beasts), the pouch itself —4th light (human being)—your pouch shape can be a bird or a heart,….You will know the Advent song which feels to me a lovely song for just being grateful, whatever your tradition:

“First light of Advent

Is the light of stones

Light that grows in crystals, in seashells and in bones…

Second light of Advent is the light of plants….”

etc.

It feels beautiful—I mean the objects themselves are beautiful—and nourishing to include a seashell, a round pebble sifted from our sandbox, beeswax or wool, seeds…in the little pouches. Or as I say, a little seed baby for a cozy connection over the winter break to this place where we all spend so much of our lives, as if we might offer the children a tangible assurance that the world, their lives are good and beautiful.

As with everything in Lifeways, the Life & imagination of the teacher helps give meaning and warmth to whatever projects you design. So listen to your own loves as you decide what you want to make, do, give. Happy making.