Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Christmas magic

Over the past week or so I have been making a concerted effort to do a fun Christmas-y activity with Emily as often as possible.  I won't be so ambitious as to say I will do something every day of December, but I am giving it a shot.  My first idea was to decorate a green styrofoam cone with gems and mini-garland to make a little Christmas tree but it was much tougher than I had anticipated, and even though I didn't let Emily USE the glue gun she still managed to burn herself on the end of it and spent pretty much the rest of the day screaming :-(  The My Little Ponies have a nice Christmas tree now though.


Undeterred, I moved on to my next idea which was to make a gingerbread house.  Emily has been begging me for at least 2 years to let her make a gingerbread house, so I set out to altering gingerbread recipes to make them whole-wheat and naturally sweetened and collecting artificial dye-free and (when possible) naturally sweetened candy for our house.  The frosting was pure sugar though.  I still haven't found a way to make frosting healthy.  And let me tell you, gingerbread houses are tougher than they seem.  We eventually managed though, and Emily has been enjoying snacking on the house a little bit each day.  I tried to explain to her that gingerbread houses are not for eating, but she just looks at me like I'm crazy and to be honest, I see her point.  It IS kind of crazy to go to extremes making a large structure completely out of edible items and then not eat it.


We also made a snow globe out of a baby food jar.  The santa inside stuck to the bottom for about 5 minutes before the glue let go.  Now when you shake it poor Santa is just tossed around in a sea of glittery water (which is leaking out bit by bit).

Today, as I picked Emily up from preschool, she announced that she'd like to make peanut butter cups.  I was delighted to be able to tell her that yes, we could totally make peanut butter cups, because I had been planning on making buckeyes with her today anyway and the procedure for peanut butter cups is much the same.  Our conversation went as follows:

Emily: Mommy, can we make peanut butter cups today?
Sara: Why yes we can!  Why do you want to make peanut butter cups?  Did you have peanut butter cups at preschool today?
Emily: No, I just want to make peanut butter cups.

Later that day, as I am making said peanut butter cups....


Emily: Pinkie Pie is coming down and eating them every time you make one, but they are reappearing.
Sara: Uh oh, she'd better not eat all of them!
Emily: I'll talk to her.  Pinkie Pie, I know that these peanut butter cups taste good, just like the peanut butter log I found in the gym today, but you can't eat them all, Daddy and Charlotte need to have some!
Sara: Wait, what?  What peanut butter log?
Emily: I found it in the gym at preschool.
Sara: So you found a peanut butter cup on the floor of the gym at preschool?
Emily: No, it was a log.
Sara: Did you tell your teachers?
Emily: No, I ate it.
Sara: Emily, you can't just eat things you find on the floor.  What if it had been poop and you had put it in your mouth to taste it?  Then you would've had poop in your mouth.
Emily: I knew it wasn't poop, because poop is straight.
Sara: Is that why you wanted to make peanut butter cups today?
Emily: Yeah.

So there you have it.  Our magical Christmas mother-daughter togetherness activity for the day was initiated because of a piece of discarded food my daughter found and ingested off the floor of the gym at preschool.

At least they turned out pretty well


I am realizing I should've cut one in half so you could see the peanut butter on the inside, and maybe not have put a crooked cup on top, but hey, as I have said before, I am definitely not a food blogger!

Once Charlotte woke up I was very glad we had made them because they shortened her post-nap screaming period significantly.


Please forgive my crappier-than-normal pictures.  I have lost my camera charger, so once again I am facing a Christmas season armed with only a cell phone for my picture-taking needs.  Hopefully you will see a marked improvement in my photo quality after the Christmas holiday!





1 comment:

Lauren @ Oatmeal after Spinning said...

THERE you are!!
Haha- I love Emily's peanut butter cup story! So cute, that one is!
Love the gingerbread house, too- how fun! And really- why not just make one out of cardboard and glue if you're not supposed to eat it?? :)