Piñatas for Kids

Howdy! It is a blustering, rainy day in the middle of January and I am hiding away, pretending it is the season I love... winter. Admittedly, it is hard to do when the rain is pouring down. Sigh. However, I am bound and determined to enjoy my plus 5 winter day, so let's talk about something fun.

In the past, I developed the tradition of making piñatas for each of the kid's birthdays, Christmas', year end class parties and moving away parties. Recently I have revived this tradition for my husband's three little nieces. I am enjoying the process of making a shape of their choosing, filling it with chocolate and getting everyone at the party to decorate loot bags for the fun things I bought and the chocolate from the pinata. It has been fun watching the older ones get into it and the youngest one trying to understand why she gets a toothbrush from her unicorn instead of riding it like she was doing after she unwrapped it. For the kids who have everything, this is a blast on both ends of the giving and receiving.

I used to make the piñatas using wallpaper paste powder that I could buy in bulk and use when needed. In this new day and age (lol.. makes me sound very old) I have been unable to find wall paper paste except in an already made paste that is too small of an amount and much too expensive. So... I have started using flour and water which works wonders to hold the shape together but not so wonderful at being strong enough to be whacked with a stick more than a few times. I have been playing with the amount of water and white glue ratios and will hopefully come across a mix that is strong enough to withstand the strength of the girls as they get older and stronger.

In any case, here are the ones I have made in the last year and a half except for the clown. I can't find pictures of it : (

 
 
 

Part of the fun for me is getting the kids to pick their shape. Yes, the oldest of the three wanted a pineapple. I made up the grab bags for this one, as I was not going to be in the province to attend the party and do crafts with the kids.

As you can see, the youngest one's unicorn was big enough to ride and I had fun braiding the tail and painting it her requested purple. I am amazed at how I can go from hating it (it never looks good at the wet paper or dried paper shape stage) to OK... it'll do, after the painting and decorating stage.

I will have to wait until fall for the next request. We shall see what they want this year. It should be interesting though, as what the youngest wanted for Christmas was a pickle and to be a pickle and her middle sister wanted a real live donkey. I can't wait!

WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving

Christmas Week

'tis the week before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse.

Several years ago we decided to skip Christmas. Meaning we've given ourselves permission to skip the stress of the "holiday". As a family we talked about the traditions of the season we couldn't live without and surprisingly (to me anyway) I was the only one who had one.

I love love love the lights on a tree so we dug up the small two and a half footer that Donna made for me on my last arctic tour and put it up with the lights.

Kidlet dug it out for me a week or so ago and I've been enjoying the lights every night since.

Other than that, it's business as usual here. Kidlet and I are planning on heading to my sister's for a feast on Monday, weather and my health permitting.

Sis promises a decidedly low-key affair. Just our respective kidlets and the two of us. (Himself is working nights all next week). No dressing up, no gifts just eating and visiting. Kidlet and I will take our new extended version LOTR movie triliogy and if all goes well, we'll spend the night and gorge on food and J.R.R. Tolkien. Woo Hoo!

Don't get me wrong, as usual my mind is brimming with ideas of stuff to do. Crafts to make, gifts to wrap, but the body is not willing. I indulge myself with plans for doing stuff and leave it at that. While gazing out the kitchen window, waiting for the coffee this morning, I thought, wouldn't it be great if I had a body-buddy "on call" 24/7. Then when I got a Grand Idea, poof, the body buddy would appear and take my plans to fruition.

By now we would have purchased some greenery from the local greenhouse and make a swag/wreath to put in the cemetary for Donna (she loved Christmas sooo much and her being gone is one of the reasons we decided to be done with the season all together).

There would be several new beaded ornaments on my little tree. This cute beaded ball arrived in "the cave" with my tree when Kidlet brought it up and who knows where it came from... but I started re-creating one... it's 1/4 done.

Body-buddy would also have sanded and re-painted my little wooden sleigh. I found the cutest design in a tole painting mag and would love to have freshened up my little sleigh. At least I hauled out the tack cloth and gave it a good dusting! So now it sits, in it's old, faded, gaudy red, holding a ceramic snowman ornament under my little tree.

Body-buddy would also have done a little search for the "winter scene" I created a few years ago out of a slab of styrofoam, some large pinecones, cone-flower seed-heads, and lots of clear glitter. I'd like to have that out but let's not push our luck with asking the Hum Bugs for more help.

Until my body-buddy arrives, or this body decides to co-operate, I'll revel in my little lights and watch a DVD instead of all the running around and stressing out of Christmases past. There are a few (very few) perks to having a debilitating chronic illness and this is one of them.