fight, bicker, make-up,
Christmas crackers, chaos, love;
family needed
family
by Angie Quantrell
Join me on a Christmas Haiku journey as I celebrate with words, thoughts, and photos that take me deep into my family’s Christmas traditions. Read more Christmas Haiku posts here.
May this Season of Light brighten your life and fill your heart with true family.
The grands are getting older, and therefore much more able to decorate gingerbread houses. For the older two, decorating is the goal instead of consuming vast amounts of sugar from the icing and candy. The younger three, well, sugar is the main goal.
Nana got smart this year and combined gingerbread house decor with Thanksgiving Dinner and Smashing of the Pumpkins. Once December hits, the schedule goes from zero to 100 mph and Christmas festivities cut into my attempts to gather all 5 for my Nana tradition. This seemed the best bet. Plus, a good meal was had, so some sugar was counter-balanced with turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy.
Before and after shots of grands and houses.
Tips for Your Gingerbread House Decorating:
*Gingerbread kits can be found in all variety of sizes, configurations, and number of homes included. Coupons and sales abound in a variety of stores. I found one set with 5 homes. Done. 5 grands equals 5 homes. Though I think some parents wanted to participate. Maybe next year I will need 2 sets.
*Hot glue houses together. This saves tons of time and keeps the houses steady for little hands. And who really eats gingerbread houses anyway?
*Cover cardboard with foil and tape to secure. Hot glue houses to foil. These bases provide plenty of room for landscaping and home decor.
*Purchase cake decorating pieces like our Christmas lights and snowmen. The grands loved adding them to their houses.
*Use tub frosting. The royal icing is soooo stiff, only the oldest 3 could manage to add it to their houses with the tube included in the kit. Soft frosting is just fine for adhering candy.
*Give each child his/her own plate with treats, decorations, a plastic knife, and a glob of icing. If they lick the knife (safe to lick, plastic!), it’s their own germs they eat.
*Limit sugar consumption by making sure home decorators have first eaten a meal. Divvy up candy between all involved decorators, thereby spreading the (sugar) wealth.
*Take lots of photos! Who knows what will happen once the houses go to their respective homes!
*Have fun! Messes are expected, so don’t worry about the small stuff. Everything washes off with a wash cloth.
Merry Christmas and Happy Traditions to You! Happy Gingerbread House Decorating!
20 eyes
20 hands and feet
100 fingers and toes
10 mouths (equals 10 voices!)
10 different ideas
20 legs and arms
4 cameras
4 purses
2 pair improper shoes
4 pair glinting glasses
3 mommies, 2 daddies, 5 cousins
Plus: mud, crowds, drippy leaves, slick straw bales, tilting maze, sparse pumpkins, traffic, no hay rides (rain)
Today’s Monday Moments are brought to you by the Family Photo Chaos Company.
The above stats equal 5 adults and 5 children from 2-55 years old. A list of emotions, attitudes, and energy levels: shy, humorous, pre-teen, grumpy, hungry, tired, excited, crazy, silly, bossy, happy, ready to be done with it all.
This was THE fastest photo shoot. Ever.
Still, I’m smiling. Memories made, images captured, perfection avoided. The Christmas photo shall be selected and enjoyed.
How do you manage your family photo shoots?
“Sing the sitting song,” said 3-year-old Gage.
“What?”
“The sitting song!”
I was stumped. I had no idea, not even a glimmer of a clue.
This boy, along with his other 4 cousins/siblings, have been my captive (literally) audience over the years as they ride in the Nana Bus (my white 4-door Mazda 3) They all know the song about riding in the Nana Bus. And they have all been victim to my silly songs and antics during forced participation car trips around the city.
But the sitting song? When had I ever sang a song about sitting? We tried several, but no, not it.
“Sitting on my lap, sitting on me,” he finally said in frustration.
OHHH. “Willaby Wallaby Woo?”
“YES!”
So we sang:
Willaby wallaby woo, an elephant sat on you!
Willaby wallaby wee, an elephant sat on me!
Willaby wallaby wAGE, an elephant sat on GAGE,
Willaby wallaby wANA, an elephant sat on NANA.
Continually, we added cousins, siblings, parents. This song can go on forever. Like the song that never ends.
When I was finally able to quit singing the sitting song, he continued to talk. Nonstop. This chatter about a wide variety of topics, including many repeats, went on for at least an hour. I am not kidding. It started at home during play, kept going during our drive, and did not stop even when we finally met mommy for the hand-off.
I was dying and mommy was laughing because he does this up to bedtime and she has a hard time getting him to STOP talking. Just like his mommy. Wait. Just like his Papa, over filled with words and must get them out. ALL of them.
Here’s wishing you many good times singing sitting songs and chatting with the littles in your life.
This post is NOT about wrapping preschoolers in bubble wrap. But it is about how much fun tots have popping bubbles.
Today during a sorting marathon, I discovered two small boxes filled with hand-sized rectangles of bubble wrap. Bubble wrap became the seed of creativity for my two young charges.
First, the fine motor skills used in attempting to pop the plastic bubbles brought intense concentration. Next came sound effects-boisterous shouts for each successful popping noise. And after introducing the ‘stomp-til-you-pop’ game while standing on the kitchen floor, squeals of joy and excitement filled the house.
30 minutes. That’s the minimum time they spent focused on small squares of bubble wrap. Moms, I was able to complete several tasks while supervising the giggly kiddos.
Mom tip: Get (save) bubble wrap!
Other activities to do with bubble wrap:
– use bubble wrap taped to a cardboard tube to make a paint roller
– add bubble wrap to cardboard strips to make bumpy roads for toy vehicles
– experiment with the protective properties of bubble wrap (drop an egg?)
– press bubble wrap in play dough or damp sand to make prints
– add bubble wrap to doll beds for mattresses (tape securely with duct tape)
– cut bubble wrap to fit inside a freezer gallon ziplock bag; seal with duct tape; let younger tots pop bubbles through the bag
– make bubble wrap shoes and walk around outside to see how well they work
CAUTION: Always supervise any play with plastic. Keep plastics and bubble wrap away from faces and mouths.
It might be noisy, but bubble wrap fun will be music to your ears.
“Dark chocolate looks like poop.”
So said Donavyn after I gave him some acai chocolate treats. “It looks like mud. Not dirt, but mud and water.”
“How do you make mud?” I asked.
“You take some dirt and mix some water.”
Ever the teacher of different genres of literature, “So what’s the recipe for mud?”
Compliments of a 5-year-old, here is Donavyn’s recipe for mud.
How to Make Mud
Step 1: Get some dirt.
Step 2: Add some water.
Step 3: Mix it up. Now you have mud.
Everyone needs this recipe. Go outside. Play in the mud.
As a preschool educator, I would like to suggest two new developmental stages.
1. The Stage of Why. My 3-year-old grandson is solidly in this stage, as evidenced by lengthy ‘why’ infested conversations during our daily commutes. Today, after being unable to even count HOW MANY whys were tossed willy-nilly towards me from the back seat, I turned the tables and rephrased his questions into ‘whys’ for him. To which he replied with the actual answers to some of my lobs.
Why? Why? Why? I love answering questions and explaining things we see and do (teacher!), but sometimes, I may be close to my limit of whys. Gage is on the verge of being out of this stage, but since we are taking a pit stop in the WHY questioning period, my game of counting whys and popping the questions back to him might just keep me sane.
2. The Stage of Actually. This word, used correctly in context by the younger preschool crowd, cracks me up. It usually shows up when preschoolers are able to grasp the abstractness of this word and how they’ve heard others use it. AND they can get out that many syllables, be understood, and make sense. Actually has been visiting this 3-year-old and his conversations. Waiting for the 2-year-old to pick up on it.
Preschoolers. They ROCK. Life is enriched with their preschool-ness.
What other new developmental stages would you like to add?
Mary and Joseph were pleased that Jesus had been born but nervous about the waiting crowds.
An angel, wearing pink socks and blue wings, was happy to eat fruit snacks before donning one snow boot to wear while dancing up the aisle.
One of two shepherds sported adorable glasses while keeping watch over his tiny flock of one.
The other one of two shepherds was having none of this mess.
From our Christmas story to yours, Merry Christmas!
Peace and joy to you this day and on into 2018.
