Oh Thank Cuteness (Christmas Edition)

Okay,we know not everyone has kids or even likes the little boogers, but we here at GenQ are all parents—of all-the-way-grown-up kids to just-out-of-toddlerhood kids—and we often think the best way to tell you a bit about ourselves is to tell you about them. And so, in this season where most of us have busily sewn and crafted for others, we wanted to share about handmade gifts we have all received from some of the people we love the most—our children.

You see, the expertise or technique that goes into any handmade gift is really not important (although we’re sure some of those packages waiting under your tree display technical excellence). The real treasure is the love and caring that permeates every single molecule, every crooked line, every excess glob of paste.

In fact, that’s our holiday message to you today: Take an opportunity to recall the unconditional and heartfelt sweetness of a child’s gift.

And bloggers, if you’d like to share your own story and picture of a gift you received from your child, then do so on your blog and add your link to our little linky spot at the end of this post. Meanwhile, here’s what our staff had to share:

Megan Dougherty (also of The Bitchy Stitcher)—Both my girls have done time in daycare, and both have brought home oodles of craft projects from their respective daycare homes. I have a particular fondness for this Christmas ornament that my older daughter, Harper, brought home in 2006, when she was three years old. Besides the asymmetrical popsicle stick frame and the bent-up yellow paper star, it’s the photo that gets me. Harper was ridiculously cute and had such a sweet smile and pinch-able round chipmunk cheeks. But whenever you needed her to smile on demand, like for a photo, she would make this grimace that made her look like she had just eaten some bad clams. And now, whenever it’s time to get out the Christmas ornaments, she goes digging through the box until she finds this one. “My favorite ornament!” she exclaims, looking at herself lovingly, and meanwhile her daddy and I chant, “Make the face! Make the face!”

My younger daughter, Devon, is what we like to call a spirited child (this is parent code for “screaming banshee destructo-kid”) and it often seemed in the past two years that her hair-trigger temper would be the end of all of us. Still, her humor and her fierce intelligence have always shined through (lucky for her) and turning five has been a major milestone as she now manages to get through her days with mostly smiles and laughter instead of tantrums. This past Mother’s Day, she was so excited to bring this picture project home, but apparently I did something wrong in the car that day (I believe I asked her to wait to ask me a question until her sister had finished speaking and this was SO MEAN). So once we got home she informed me that I could not see my gift, that she was going to hide it in a closet and that I could never EVER have it. A few days later, when things were calm and I was sure she was over it, I pulled it out and put it on my desk, only to be informed upon its discovery that I was NOT ALLOWED to have it, and back in the closet it went. And there it stays, except times like this when she’s out of the house or asleep and I can pull it out without fear of reprisal.

Scott Hansen (also of Blue Nickel Studios)—Well, first off, you have to know how many Christmas ornaments we have. Actually, on second thought, I don’t even know how many we have, but they would fill a small half bathroom all the way to the ceiling. In other words: a lot. My favorite kid-made decoration though is sadly out of commission. Even though Construction Paper 3-Eyed Alien Santa was spotted last year without his head, when we un-crated Christmas here this year, I just looked at his poor headless construction paper body and sighed. I knew we were doing this post, but I couldn’t be troubled with looking for his head, we had Christmas Decor to put up! I then promptly moved on to the ornaments I am going to share with you today. (Poor Construction Paper 3-eyed Alien Santa) Meet Lumpy Angel and Egg Carton Glitter Bell. Lumpy Angel was made by Mimi when she was about 10 I think. Alas Lumpy Angel is not dated, but I do know that Mimi made her because of her very Large eyes! Unquestionably Mimi’s handiwork. I love Lumpy Angel because of her absolute lumpiness. Her sheer weight amuses me immensely. How the teacher of the art class expected this thing to hang on a tree without a counterbalance still floors me.

And my other favorite was made by one of the boys, the Egg Carton Glitter Bell. I love the simplicity of this ornament. Such an unassuming little reconstituted paper egg carton cup all glitzed up for a month on the tree. Kind of like me whenever I put on a sports coat. I must like it because I can relate to it. Somewhere the Egg Carton Glitter Bell Boys have a cousin hanging on the tree, Green Painted Egg Carton Wreath, but being green, GPECW (for short) is pretty elusive.

Jake Finch—I’ve shared before that my daughter was a little difficult to create and we’d waited many years for her arrival. Every enthusiastic parent makes promises about what they’re going to do for their kids. When you’re left dreaming about it even longer, sometimes those promises have an added dose of passion. One thing I’d always said about my children was that I would be involved in their school and their life, like it or not.

So when we picked a magnet school that mandated parent involvement, I was overjoyed. What I didn’t realize was that parent involvement also meant other parents being involved and we seemed to have a crop of former corporate execs, now SAHMs, who tried to run the programs the same as they did their staffs. The school has a ceramics program and twice each year, every class does a couple of projects. Samantha’s first grade class was to make snowmen and I, as the art mom, was to lead the project. When it came time to paint our fired snowmen army, I allowed the kids to be creative and paint their snowmen however they wished. We ended up with polka dots, plaid, stripes, neon colors, non-traditional hues and all sorts of fun combos. The kids spent a ton of time thinking through their snowmen choices and more importantly, they had fun. These snowmen were Christmas presents for their families.

Two days later I got a call. The head art mom informed me that I had not kept the children to the mandatory snow palette and that EVERY SINGLE SNOWMAN (50 altogether) would need to be washed clean of paint and repainted by the kids. White for the body, orange for the nose and the children could choose between five boring colors for the stovepipe hat. The reason? Some parents were upset because their snowmen from child-to-child over the years didn’t match their holiday décor. I think I said something about micromanaging control freak parents who were going to warp their children’s creativity, not knowing that the main complainant over unmatched décor was the person I was speaking with. Oh well. Do I need to say I never again agreed to help with ceramics and that I definitely revised my parent involvement promise in order to avoid future painted snowmen conflicts?

So here we have a picture of my Samantha’s perfectly perfect painted snowman, which was washed, thank you very much, of its purple dotted body to become this respectable gentleman. He reminds me every year that even my stoutest promises must become flexible in the face of Those Other Mothers at School.

Melissa Thompson Maher—My girls are 24 and 19, so I have cycled through a lot of these craft projects, usually the products of their long-ago classrooms or Sunday Schools. Some stand the test of time better than others, though, and that’s why I’ve picked these two: a clay pig bank and a clay vase. I think Delia made the pig when she was in second grade. Both his ears are history and there’s something—not money—rattling around inside. I just love her improbable vision of a smiling, Pepto-Bismol pink pig with a blue mask. We use it as a bookend in the study.

My other treasure was made by Catherine when she was in fifth grade, I believe. The springy color scheme makes it perfect for displaying on the mantel in warmer months, sometimes with a spray of silk flowers. I love the cleverly placed sun on top of the floral close-up.

Our holiday wishes for you transcend religion: May you bask in Hope, Peace and Love, and be surrounded by those you hold dear. Merry Christmas!

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