Olivia Helps with Christmas - Day Thirteen

Kids Christmas party

If you have been reading for a while you may have heard me mention the kids ornament party. We aren’t doing it this year so instead I thought I would share a little about this event. I miss not doing it with the boys, and I know that they miss it, but the timing didn’t work out this year.

When I was a child my Mom made ornaments with Jenni and I. I still have some of those ornaments that we hang on our tree today. When I was a little older our church in Tucson used to have a big ornament making event the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I can remember over several years learning to make southwest gods eye ornaments, wax paper stars, and some very overdone beaded and bejeweled Christmas balls.

When Paul was 2 I decided that it might be fun to have an ornament making party for Paul and some of his friends. I invited the Hankins clan, baby Scott, Rachel, and Julia Beth. I also invited Paul’s best friend for life Katie, and baby Elijah, although we weren’t expecting Lige to actually make an ornaments.

I think I had two projects planned. The first involved gluing things to a votive candle and then covering it all with glitter spray. The second project involved balls the older children painted, and Paul and Katie rolled round in glue then coated in glitter. In the process Paul and Katie both got coated in glitter. There is not much in this world better than happy children with glitter and glue in their hair and smiles on their faces.

The next year we had a brand new baby, and I don’t know that we would have done it again, but Julia Beth asked me when we were going to do that ornament thing, so we did. We have done it just about every year since then. Sometimes the cast is different. We have had Elisa Gail, Lexi and Thalia Rodriquez, Rachel and Julia, Katie, Elijah, Sammy, John Bailey, Andrew, Kyle, Max Perkins, Hilda, my sisters kids Keenan and Naomi and possibly others. We have decorated stars, snowflakes, gingerbread people, trains, snow people, and tiny wardrobes that were mistaken for outhouses. We have made mini wreaths, picture frames, candles, gingerbread houses, and I think even decorated cookies. Painted ornaments are more popular and glitter is VERY popular. In recent years I have discovered that Katie Powell is not only great with a glue gun, but also when Katie says “stop playing with star wars action figures we are making ornaments”, certain children listen and cooperate much better than when I make the same suggestion.

Could I purchase better looking ornaments? Absolutely. Will the children’s ornaments be collector’s items someday? Only to me, and I am ok with that. Scott was a child the first year we did it, and he just got married a few weeks ago. Elisa Gail is married, Rachel is married, Julia Beth, Lexi, and Thalia are all growing into beautiful young women. Even Paul and Katie might be getting too old to really enjoy it. So I am going to keep my painted and glittered ornaments and remember those children with glue and glitter and smiles. I am so proud of the adults they are all becoming, and I am glad I had them for a few minutes when they were small.