Since there are 12 months to the year and 12 different gifts for the 12 days of Christmas, we thought this would make a perfect series with something different, but related, for you to do for the 2003 Holiday season!

We all know the song, and most think of it as a nonsense rhyme set to music to sing along and to teach children verses by repeating the different parts over and over again in a whimsical, fun way!

We looked it up on the internet to see where it originated and found out there are a few schools of thought on it.

It seems that some people believe it was created by the Catholics in England around the 16th to the 18th century when they we forbidden to practice their religion. According to this belief, there are hidden religious meanings to the words, phrases and gifts. For example:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree - refers to God.
Two Turtle Doves - refers to the Old and new Testaments
Three French Hens - refers to the three virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity
And so on, each having a very religious meaning!!

We don't know if it's a myth or reality, but whatever, it is still one of the most recognized carols sung at Christmas time, and we just felt it would be fun making all the gifts as ornaments for your tree!!!

So join us as we go through them all!

IMPORTANT: BEFORE YOU START
The actual ornaments will only use a very small amount of trims, but you must purchase at least 1/2 yd. in the fabric store (most fabric stores will not cut less than 1/3 to 1/2 yd. of an item). Therefore, we will have you purchase more than you need for one ornament, but be sure to save all your scraps and leftovers, as you will be needing them on the rest of the ornaments as we go along!

It's a good idea to keep them in a "stash" box where you do your crafting so you will have them handy when you move on to the next ornament.

NOTE: We started with the 12 Drummers Drumming and worked our way down. Therefore, materials for all other ornaments will be based on what was initially purchased for this project.

HINT: When cutting small pieces of most of these trims, you will need to add a little glue to the ends to prevent fraying before setting them down.