Glitter, glue and tears the perfect recipe for granny (Homemade Christmas Presents)

Member Name: millwall23

Product:	Homemade Christmas Presents
Date:	10/12/01 (1115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The best memories, The best present

Disadvantages: The mess!, The frustration!, The effort!

I've got glue on my sofa, glitter on the floor, it took me an hour to pull the stickers out of my daughters hair and I don't think my landlord is going to appreciate the new artwork on his nice white walls. She screamed at me I screamed at her and daddy screamed at us both.

What on earth have we been up to? Why making Christmas cards of course, it seemed such a simple idea. Draw some simple snowman scenes on card and set Thai to work with crayons, glitter and cotton wool - no problem. But then once again I had under estimated the frustrating ability a two year old has to thwart every flawless plan.

I could have gone down to Clintons and bought some very cutesy wootsy cards and signed it from the girls but oh no I have to be different. Silly mummy - you know she says that a lot and I'm beginning to think she may just have a point.

For a start getting a 2 year old to colour in one picture isn't so difficult and you know green skies have a certain charm but by the 4th one she's suddenly decided that EVERYTHING has to be green or even better BLACK. Ah but I'm one step ahead, do it in sessions and she'll forget she was bored and we'll get 4 adorable pictures all ready to decorate. Ha ha ha, skip forward 3 weeks and the final touches go onto the last picture. I breathe a sigh of relief until I remember that we've got the real fun stuff still to do and suddenly I break out in a rather cold sweat.

You know it's not too late to back out and visit dear old Clintons. I can feel that stubbornness rising up in me again and decide that I will not give in, I will not loose to a toddler I am mummy and I am in charge. Just think positive and remember who's boss and we'll have this done in no time.

Why oh why oh why didn't I pay attention to the fact there is a VERY good reason why most parents don't put themselves through this. We start with the glue and glitter, I'll
glue you glitter and we'll be finished by tea time. That would have been pretty good had madam not decided the gluing looked like much more fun than the glitter and point blank demanded she do it.

Now anyone who has one of these adorable? little people knows that putting your foot down really doesn't work and for all your most wonderful intentions you will ultimately loose almost every battle. And so she proceeds to glue everything in sight although at least I'd had the foresight to constrain her in her highchair - trust me small consolation!

An hour later and a few screaming fits I pry the brush from her hands, bribe her with some special water (a capri-sun!) and we're back to the glitter. After 2 cards we have enough of the stuff piled on her tray to Finnish all the others but little miss bugger box is now having fun with the once redundant but now highly amusing glitter pots. And so it continues to flow building up into nice little mounds resembling the snow hills I tried to create on the cards.

A little more intervention and screaming, tears and cuddles and we're all happy and ready for the cotton wool. Now I've come so far I am NOT giving up now, one more mountain to climb and we are done. So out comes that oh so wonderful glue, the glitter on my hands, clothes, floor carpet, table and hair can wait till later.

This time I'm NOT giving in and I glue the cards while throwing cotton wool buds at her so she doesn't have time to realise she's missing out. Oh this is good things are going pretty well here, she's putting them in the right places and seems content until "fish-it mummy, do painting" UGH. No darling we'll do that later, do some more sticky sticky first. You guessed it we're back to screaming fits - why oh why oh why but I already said that didn't I!

JUST ONE MORE TO DO, I know I can do this............I think I can do this...
.........I HOPE I can do this.

Ah that's it, disappear into the kitchen and come back with a jelly baby (another good intention out the window). It works, last snowman has his body and a few beads later all 4 snowmen have eyes and a nose - FINISHED.

I backed them onto more folded card and wrote the message myself and they are ready to be sent. What a fiasco, what a nightmare, what unimaginable fun. Maybe I am just a glutton for punishment or perhaps a tad sadistic but just seeing the finished product and knowing that they will bring the most immense enjoyment to their recipients, namely the two sets of grandparents, a great-grandmother and our closest friends.

Perhaps I can wait till next year to start again but I will certainly be doing this again and next year with the girls being one and three it should be even more FUN??!! If you have the patience (or even just enough not to go mad) then I really do recommend you do this even if it's just one special picture you put away in the memory box.

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