In fact, Advent is so connected with candles that the Advent wreath has 4 candles and some have a fifth candle in the center.  Each candle has a special meaning and each one needs to be lit on a certain day. 

 Advent is known as the season when the King is coming. For this reason, purple has been the traditional color that is used for the Advent wreath since purple is considered the color of royalty.  On an interesting note, purple was chosen as a royal color simply because the dye was one of the most expensive dies available. 

 But back to the Advent wreath, which has 3 purple candles and one rose colored candle.  Each candle represents a countdown to the coming of the King and it also has a symbolic meaning.  The first purple candle means Hope.  The second purple candle means Love.  The third candle that you light is the rose colored candle and it means Joy.  And finally, the fourth candle and third purple one means peace.  The candle that rests in the center of the Advent wreath should be white and it represents Christmas Day.  The fifth candle is completely optional.

 Okay, you are probably sick of this little history lesson, or would that be religious lesson and you probably want to get to the main focus of this article, to make an Advent Wreath of your own.  Like all my crafts, this candle craft can be very easy to do and requires very little know how before you begin.

What you need:

• Three Purple Taper Candles

• One Rose (pink) Taper Candle

• One White Pillar Candle (optional)

• A candle holder ring (the wire frame type that is used for floral arrangements)

• A ring of evergreens that will fit the ring (you can use fresh or fake)

• Floral Wire

o Optional:  You can make the evergreen ring yourself but you will need

? Fresh Evergreen branches

? Floral Wire

Directions:

1. Take out the candle holder ring and remove any of the tags from the store. 

2. Pop on the ring of evergreens and secure it with floral wire for safety.

3. Place the four candles in each holder.

4. Place the white pillar candle in the center of the ring.

And there you have an Advent wreath.  See, I wasn’t lying when I said that it was fast and simple.  Of course, if you decide to make your own evergreen ring there are a few steps that you need to do, which I have gone over below.

1. Take out the candle holder ring and remove any of the tags from the store. 

2. Arrange the evergreen branches around the holder.  Make sure that they cover it completely and you like the design.

3. Take the floral wire and attach the evergreens to the candle ring.  The best way to do this is to find a start point for each sprig of evergreen.  So at the first candle holder, tie on the end of the evergreen sprig.  Leave that sprig and move onto the next holder, tying on another sprig of evergreen to the next holder and so on until you have four sprigs hanging out from each of the holders.

4. Next, secure one of the evergreen sprigs in the middle between two holders, move to the next sprig and repeat until you have secured them all.

5. Lastly, secure as close to the tip as you can while still maintaining a nice look to the ring. Repeat until all the sprigs are attached.

6. Add more sprigs of evergreens to spots that need them.

7. Place the four candles in each holder.

8. Place the white pillar candle in the center of the ring.

When you use your Advent wreath, you will light a purple candle on the first Sunday of Advent, the second Sunday of Advent you will light two purple candles; the one you already lit the week before and the second one.  The third Sunday of Advent, you will light the two previous candles as well as the rose candle, and on the fourth Sunday, you will light all the candles except the white one.  The candle in the center represents Christmas so you don’t light it until Christmas Day.

Now you have an Advent wreath that everyone will want and you will find yourself making some last minute Advent wreaths for gifts.

The first manufacturers of artificial Christmas trees were brush companies.  Realizing their knowledge and production capabilities, they new the artificial Christmas tree could be mass produced.  The artificial Christmas trees pine needles were made from brush bristles.  Today the pine branches are made from plastic and come in quite a few different colors and sizes.New varieties of artificial Christmas trees are presented every Christmas season.With new artificial Christmas trees every season, an individual should be capable to find a style of artificial Christmas tree to fit their preferences.  We even can find artificial Christmas trees that sing and dance, Metallic Trees.

The artificial Christmas tree’s structure was changed during the 1950’s.  It Changed from the original wood to modern metal ones and  ceased to be green. The Christmas tree in the 1950’s had faults and lacked the standards of modern safety and health regulations. During this time the artificial Christmas tree were often painted or made with flammable materials.  The first artificial Christmas trees were very hazardous and unacceptable, the heat from the strings of light could cause the artificial Christmas tree to catch on fire.  This hazard has been corrected with the advance of chemical developments.  The artificial Christmas tree that was once metallic has been replaced with tinsel trees.  Fire retardant materials are used for the artificial Christmas tree.  The tinsel tree makes a very safe addition to your holiday decorations.

The manufactures of artificial Christmas trees realized that as years passed consumers found less and less time to decorate and enjoy the holidays.  They solved some of this problem by inventing an artificial Christmas tree that already has the lights attached.  This solves a couple different problems.  The time consuming of stringing lights on the artificial Christmas tree and also helps eliminate the issues of dealing with blown bulbs.  And we all know that hours can be wasted trying to find that one bulb that keeps the whole string from working.  One of the newest trends in artificial Christmas trees is the fiber optic tree.  This artificial Christmas tree lights up but also changes colors at different time intervals.  The fiber optic artificial Christmas tree is becoming a very popular style because of their simplicity.

The artificial Christmas tree also has another new trend developing.  It is the upside down artificial Christmas tree.  These artificial Christmas trees are marketed for the safety of families.  The artificial Christmas tree can not be reached as easily because they are hung from the ceiling.  This artificial Christmas tree is popular because it takes up less floor space.  And we all know this allows the jolly old elf to leave lots more presents.  Even with the interesting features of this artificial Christmas tree, it still hasn’t caught on in today’s society like other types  there are many advantages of using an artificial Christmas tree as compared to using a real tree.  The artificial Christmas trees that are mass produced  means they can be used year after year.

A one time investment allows many years of enjoyment.  The artificial Christmas tree is available in many different colors and many sizes and shapes.  Now the perfect artificial Christmas tree is just a trip to the attic instead of the tree lot.  The biggest plus with the artificial Christmas tree is that the  mess from the falling needles is totally erased.  No more vacuuming dead needles for weeks after the holidays.  Another  major advantage of the artificial Christmas tree is never having to remember to water it.   With this said it is easy to see why the artificial Christmas tree still is growing in popularity  year after year.

There are some questions you will have to ask yourself when it comes to the Christmas tree, one of the most major being what sort of tree you are going to get.

You basically have two options when it comes to a Christmas tree: outdoor or real, and fake. When it comes to make the decision of which you should opt for, it really all depends on your own personal preference, however before you go ahead and decide whether you want an outdoor Christmas tree or a fake plastic one, you are going to want to take a few different factors into consideration.

Price

Of course one of the first factors you are going to want to think about when it comes to choosing an outdoor Christmas tree or fake one is price. With a fake tree although you will typically pay more initially, you do have to consider that you will be able to use the tree year after year, whereas with an outdoor Christmas tree you will have to use it just for the time around Christmas and then throw it out because it will start to shed and die.

Look

The look of the tree is also very important. An outdoor Christmas tree is going to be authentic and much more beautiful, but again this is really all personal preference. The majority of people however far prefer a real Christmas tree to any other, although you can make a fake tree look pretty darn good if you decorate it right.

Selection

There is much more variety with the fake trees, because they are available in different sizes and colors, whereas the outdoor trees pretty much all look the same. Keep in mind that you can buy whatever Christmas tree decorations you want and do whatever you want with the tree, you can even dye the leaves of an outdoor Christmas tree if you are dead set on that.

After taking all of these factors into consideration and really putting some thought into it, you will find the process of choosing a Christmas tree much easier and put less hassle and stress on yourself.