Pueblo Grande Museum Part 1

Hohokam for the Holidays

Is it too early to start preparing for Christmas? It's not, if you are the State of Arizona.

For the first time, our state will provide the United States Congress with the Christmas tree placed in front of the Capital building in Washington, D.C. A 75-foot, nearly 125-year-old spruce has been selected from the forest in Northern Arizona. It will take about 10,000 lights and more than 5,000 ornaments to decorate the tree. Most of the ornaments will be made by Arizona school children, but a few opportunities to create decorations for the tree are available to the public. That's why I'm at the Pueblo Grande Museum early on a Saturday morning, to make Native American Gourd Ornaments for the Capital Christmas tree.

Twenty other crafters filled the community room at the Pueblo Grande Museum, including my friend, Jeanne Olcott. We were each given a gourd, a variety of paint markets and went to work. Most of the group transformed their gourds into birds. Mine, I thought, looked more like a whale. But whales aren't native to Arizona , so I painted a lizard instead.

But the lizard only covered one side of my gourd, so on the back I painted a prickly pear cactus.

Nearly three hours later, all the gourds were finished and drying outside. There were birds of all varieties and colors, a snake or two and even a hot air balloon with the the Arizona state flag.

As the Capital Christmas Tree travels across the U.S., each ornament will promote the state of Arizona -- its diverse culture and rich history. You can follow its progress at the interactive website: http://www.capitolchristmastree2009.org/.

Be sure to keep an eye out for a yellow and orange lizard hanging in the tree. When you see it, I hope you will think of me.