Ready, Set,...Craft! Celebration Trumps Complication.

     Like so many fams, we let Sophie make a Christmas craft for each family member.  So, I began the search for the elusive perfect craft.  You know, that one that makes her look like a genius and, oh yeah, that she has fun doing.  We came up with some really cool ideas.
     By the time we got to the point of actually executing said ideas, I realized that these crafts were more us than her.  Make your own snowglobe...cool!  She can first cut out little...oh, wait...cutting may not be a great place to start for a 2 year old.  Scrapped.  Back to the drawing board.  Is this the first taste of impending Science Fair project competition?  And...it begins.
     What could we do that was beyond the scribble, at her level still, but looked like something she could recognize as Christmas once it was done?  We settled on a few versions of hands and feet prints in various Christmas shapes and colors.  Sophie then chose glittery stickers, cotton balls, and decorative balls, directing me where to place the glue and mashing them down on the canvas herself.   She had a ball painting her hands and feet!  Although our shapes were smudged and imperfect and it looked as if we forgot to decorate the left side of the craft (she was oddly drawn to the right), the trained eye of a family member would be able to see that the beauty and heart of this piece could transcend even the Mona Lisa.
     Sophie did her first painting when she was just a few months old and loved it so much that I went and got brushes, washable paint, and paper.  She has been doing a painting almost every day since.  For her 2nd birthday, which was a Rapunzel party, we put mini canvases and brushes and finger paints out and just let the kids go at it.  Did I mention it was an outdoor party?  It was a big, fun, beautiful mess.  Her first art work, that she painted at a dear friend's house on a small square canvas, sits on display on the mantle in our home to remind us of how to see the world;  Through the eyes of a child.
     She is so proud of her work!  As she walks by the drying pieces she puts both hands out, steps back, and says "TADA!"

P.S.  If you want to know what exact crafts we did or to see a pic, you'll have to check back after Christmas.  Don't want to spoil the surprise for the family!