Every year for the holidays, I have my kiddos make a gift for their parents. But I can never just do some random piece of crap that will end up in the garbage ... that's just a waste of time, money, and effort. All of which I have very little of these days. So here we are doing the same snowman handprint ornament. It looks something like this ....
... cute right?! Although I do it every year, I always have the moment of WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?? I'M NEVER DOING THEM AGAIN. Examples being ...Year 1: Never trust kids with a plate of paint. In my defense, I was a first year teacher and I had not developed the gift of foreseeing the destruction of 6 year olds. I had, in my very humble opinion, planned out every detail, every step of directions, EVERYTHING! I gave each groups of kids a plate of paint, then an ornament. I told them to dip one hand in the paint and place it on the ornament. When finished I would pick it up and they could go wash their hands in the bathroom and all would be well. PSYCH!!! Next thing I knew kids were running about with both hands covered in paint playing tag ... handprints were every where but in the ornaments. Absolute fail!!
Year 2: Well ... needless to say it went better than year one so no complaints I suppose. I learned then to give them something less dangerous than a plate of paint and paint each kids hand and then have them place it on the ornament. Biggest fail was not realizing one of the ornaments was wedged in my couch cushions and having one very distraught student who thought the world was over because she wasn't getting an ornament. Oops!
Year 3: I waited until the last day before break to decorate the fingers and transform them into snowman. So I spent my entire prep hour decorating like a mad woman and still didn't finish ... more time consuming then one may realize. Too much stress!
That brings us to today ... Year 4. For the first time I was unable to buy shatterproof ornaments (I can tell you have figured out the fail moment already). I was barely able to find solid colored, plain ornaments period much less find shatterproof. Everything was covered in glitter and grooves and gems and other decorative crap. Fortunately I pillaged the aisle and commandeered the last two boxes of plain, solid colored ornaments.
So I went through the whole rigmarole of painting, pressing, washing, decorating, labeling, etc. Before I handed out the ornaments I gave a very long, very serious and meaningful lecture about the fragility of the ornaments and how to properly handle them when tying on the sentimental poem. As I walked the room aiding the kids that clearly needed help, I hear the distinct sounds of shattering glass. So I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter ... and what to my wondering eyes should appear but several shards of glass and a boy with a tear. In his hands sat something close to the appearance of this ....
When I asked how it happened his response was "I hit it with a pencil." Apparently he was drumming on his ornament. I cleaned it up, made him sit there and cry for a bit, then had him go get an extra ornament from another teacher. After thinking - I'm never doing this again, I listened to how excited they were to give it to their parents and one girl kept repeating "It's so beautiful. Thank you! They are just beautiful!".
So ... now ... I have too!
