My kids are really excited for December. And since Thanksgiving has come and gone, there’s definitely been an uptick in the Christmas spirit around our household. Last year, I’d been considering making kindness elves for the Christmas countdown, but never got around to it. I have never really liked the elf on the shelf idea, so this year I did a little more exploring of alternatives to elf on the shelf, and kindness elves.
Some people made kindness elves, kindness kids, etc — whose purpose was to help the kids learn to pay it forward. I liked the idea. But then I stumbled across this idea of a Christmas angel.
I decided to print out a few kindness elf printables for the Christmas angel to share with the boys each day. After checking out a bunch of different options, I decided to use these cute circle tags by Passionate Penny Pincher.
And since we celebrate Christmas in both the secular and religious sense, the Christmas angel will also be delivering a daily advent prompt to help my boys understand things on a more spiritual level too. That part was easy, as I found this printable that goes along with the Jesus Storybook Bible #afflink …so I printed out a set of free printable advent cards for December.
When the kids wake up, I’m going to have this cute little clothespin angel sitting out on the kitchen table with some of the printables I mentioned inside this envelope. I also wrote a brief “introduction” letter to the boys, from the Christmas Angel, of course. The text was inspired by a Christmas Angel note I found at The Riches of His Love.
How to Make the Clothespin Christmas Angel
Now, in case you’re wondering how I made the clothespin angel, here’s the quick cliff notes version.
(Sorry, I didn’t take step by step photos, as I honestly wasn’t sure how it would turn out!)
I took a square piece of fabric that was about five inches by five inches — and cut a small hole in the center. Then I pushed the clothespin through the opening.
Using the gold pipe cleaner, I made a halo at one end, then bent it around the neck of the clothespin angel to secure the fabric “dress.”
I used another gold pipe cleaner as a combo waistband and set of arms.
Then, I took two more pipe cleaners and bent them into angel wings. Honestly, they looked more like flower petals than wings at first, but I still think it turned out cute!
I then attached the wings to the clothespin Christmas angel on the back side (at the “waistband”).
Using some permanent markers, I colored the main part of the clothespin gold (it turned out more brown, but oh well), and drew a face on the Christmas Angel too.
I kept it really simple… because, well, simple is better!
…and easier.
So, if you don’t have all the supplies, then by all means, improvise! Make it work for you 
I’ll see how many days we continue the Christmas Angel concept… it might be a huge hit, or it could be a bust. I’m all for being practical. So, I’ll try to report back and let you know how it turned out. It may be that this Christmas Angel ends up as nothing more than a cute decoration for our Christmas tree!
What are your ideas for helping kids get in the Christmas spirit? Do you try to focus on being kind, or…? Do you love/hate elf on the shelf? Don’t care one way or the other? That’s cool too.
Regardless, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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