Raising Stick-to-it Kids: Lessons from the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Lessons from the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Part 2

I can only spend so much time on a blog post. So, I'm turning one huge blog post into a mini series for my own sanity. Since Part 1, I've been thinking about more lessons learned. I won't delay...

4. Have LOTS of butter knives on hand

Frosting sugar cookies with children is an interesting experience. They are so excited to see all the colors of frosting and the array of sprinkle choices. It is all so tempting! I made the stupid mistake of frosting cookies while my five oldest children were at an activity. That was a big No-No. I was stuck with frosting all of the cookies and trying to maintain order with three little people who were overly anxious to pile as much frosting on their cookie as possible. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE frosting and decorating cookies, to an extent. Give me a plate of six cookies and I'm happy. But a couple of dozen? HELP!!! Lessons learned: Give each child their own plate with one cookie at a time. Give them a separate plate with a small scoop of each color of frosting. Hand them one knife. Children are notorious for licking the knife and putting it back in the frosting. Heaven forbid, but it's true. This way, they lick the knife and put it back in their OWN frosting. Now, for managing the sprinkles...Keep the empty sprinkle bottles! Then, pour a small amount of sprinkles into the empty bottle and give it to your little one. They have SO much fun "sprinkling", but it's under control. Yes, I know...they want EVERY kind of sprinkle. Put a little of everything in one bottle, shake it up and there's a potpourri of it all, ready to be shaken and shaken on top of the mass of sugary yummyness. And note: have extra knives because you always have the "yellow frosting butter knife" licked by your two year old or some other delightful episode occur.

Yes, she looks like an orphan...for the record, this is not typical attire. She just woke up from a nap, having slept in her slip after church. No sense in getting new clothes on to get dirty, messy and sticky, right?

See, there's the lick...

...and more licks!

She did a great job - no licking No-No's from her

Hooray - they came home and rescued me!

Do we really have to frost cookies for Valentine's Day? Not if we remember my motto: "Just because we've done it before, doesn't mean we have to do it again - unless we really want to!"

5. Take the TIME to try something NEW!

This year we decided to make memories and not get caught up in Christmas commercialism. We had a special Christmas celebration over a weekend in December. We rented a little house out in the country for a down home celebration, based around our favorite Christmas book, Cracked Wheat for Christmas. What a fabulous time we had as a family doing things we've always wanted to do but have never done.

Stringing Popcorn

This is sooo fun! If you've never done it with your family, make it a MUST DO for Christmas, 2011. Make sure you double your thread and tie a not at the end so you don't have to constantly re-thread needles. Even the baby of the family tried it and LOVED it!

"Snow" Much Fun
We are not really a "snow family". We don't ski, sled, snowboard, snowmobile, etc. From what I can recollect, we have never had a family snowball fight or built a snowman together. Well, now we have!! This was the next best thing after stringing popcorn!

The little kids were so cold by the time the snowman was completed so Dad took them inside. Thus, only part of us are in the picture.

Gingerbread House

Yes, it may seem kind of pathetic, but we have never made a gingerbread house! As part of our celebration, we bought a kit to make things a little bit faster and simpler. It was still fun!