Saturday, July 31, 2010

Tomorrow we make CHRISTMAS COOKIES!

It all started with the little guy's request that I choose the books for reading time. Usually he chooses the books and we always read at least one Christmas book. Some of our favorites are: The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear! by Don and Audrey Wood, You Are My Miracle by Maryann Cusimano Love and Shall I knit you a Hat? a Christmas Yarn by Kate Klise.

The Christmas book that I chose was I Spy Little Christmas from Scholastic, short, sweet and to the point. We slowly read the book, discussed the pictures in detail and talked about Christmas.

Then my child got one of his "great ideas." He looked into my eyes and asked "What are we doing tomorrow?" When I replied, "We have no plans," he flashed the biggest smile and announced, "tomorrow we make CHRISTMAS COOKIES!" And that is exactly what we did. I even found multi-color sprinkles in the back of the cabinet to decorate our trees, angels, bells and snowmen cookies .

Making Christmas cookies in July was truly a enjoyable project. There was no stress, no rush, no expectations other than having fun. A new tradition was born and some great memories were created. Next year we will make Christmas cookies to share with our friends.

The little guy wanted to share cookies with Santa, perhaps hoping for a visit and a gift. I had to explain that Santa was on vacation and he would be happy to wait until Christmas Eve for some cookies.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Beautiful Life

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I desire to behold a beautiful life.

As I look around, beauty or beautiful are not words I would use to describe what I see. Super Why and Woody are on the floor, along with a school bus. I stepped on a spider man ball and my 4 year old has 6 pairs of shoes on the floor - old sneakers that we can't throw away yet, new Toy Story sneakers, last years sandals, water shoes, flip flops and cool spider man sneakers from his cousin that don't fit yet. There are three kitchen bags filled with shredded papers waiting to be recycled. There is a watermelon on the floor waiting to be cut. As always there are dishes in the sink.

Yet, I am able to type my first blog entry in silence. My little boy is napping and the quiet is delightful. I enjoyed some Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream from Ben & Jerry's and I did not have to share! This morning we went to the playground to meet a new friend. My little boy will be attending a new school in September. We meet a family who has a little boy that will be in the same class. It was nice to see my child enjoy himself, laugh, smile and make a new friend. When we came home, we ate lunch and talked about our plans for the next two days. We are going to the Elmwood Park Zoo tomorrow and the following day we are off to The Please Touch Museum.

The moments of today are beautiful. The experiences are joyful. My desire is to continue to create more beautiful experiences for myself and to share.