How to paint and display a garden spider for the tree...

Left, the wooden flat of a spider unpainted. Right, my painted version based upon a common
garden variety spider found where I live.

       This popular, wooden flat of a spider may be found in many hobby stores or online. I've recycled a plastic netting that once was used to package lemons or onions, I don't remember. This netting looks so much like a spider's web that I decided to display it along with my spider on our family Christmas tree. Spiders are frequently included on Christmas trees in Europe because of several stories told to children during the Season of Advent; below is one of three I have heard told...

Legend of the Christmas Spider

       A poor but hardworking widow once lived in a small hut with her children. One summer day, a pine cone fell on the earthen floor of the hut and took root. The widow's children cared for the tree, excited at the prospect of having a Christmas tree by winter. The tree grew, but when Christmas Eve arrived, they could not afford to decorate it. The children sadly went to bed and fell asleep. Early the next morning, they woke up and saw the tree covered with cobwebs. When they opened the windows, the first rays of sunlight touched the webs and turned them into gold and silver. The widow and her children were overjoyed. From then on, they never lived in poverty again.