Making of the Christ Crib

Well here's my Christ Crib, and the making thereof:

First I bought this wooden box because it was the closest thing I could find to what I wanted. You could just buy a cradle, or use a shoebox, but I wanted a wooden cradle that looked like a manger.

I didn't need the top, so I put took it off using a pocket knife because we don't have a screwdriver small enough for the screws. Then I glued it on the bottom, because I figured I might as well use it, I paid for it. I put some heavy books on it and left it for about half an hour.

So once I removed the books I stained the end parts a dark brown, as so:



I ended with gluing some red and gold ribbon around the inside and writing a prayer around the outside "If soft enough Thy crib seems not to be, accept Sweet Infant Jesus, my heart as crib for Thee! Amen"



I'm drying some long grass in our backyard to act as 'straw'. When advent comes, for each good deed I do (and anyone else if they want to join in) I'll put one piece of straw in the crib. Hopefully by the time Christmas comes I'll have a soft Crib for Our Lord!

I thought of another way to make the crib as well, if you don't like the box look and want something very easily stored. I demonstrate with cardboard, but with wood it'd look better I think. Cut two pieces of wood the same size and then a slit about a quarter of the way up each one, halfway through each piece:



Then slide them together, like so:



So that's one project down! If you wanted to write a different prayer on/around/in your crib, I think "Oh Holy Night," or "O' Come O' Come Emmanuel" or "Away in a Manger" would all be great. For now we have to put our cribs away though. Advent will be here soon enough!