Christmas

We had a very busy and wonderful Christmas celebration. We went to friends' house for Xmas Eve, opened presents with Grandma and Papie in the morning, served lunch to people in an elderly home across the street, and hosted 13 adults and 6 kids for dinner at our place. We enjoyed all of it!

The kids were surprised with bikes (the above picture with their eyes covered) and happy to receive more princess attire and airplanes. They picked out presents for each other and made paintings and books for the grandparents. We have all enjoyed our advent/12 days of Christmas candles, readings and hymns at night. Arthur sings Away in a Manger and Go Tell it on the Mountain in his sweet high yet raspy voice, and Adaline serenades us with a new original song and story afterwards. We are not ready for the Christmas season to end, but we hope to have an Epiphany party when it does. Merry Christmas!

You've been X-ed!

Adaline loves art. She can't pass by a marker or a pen or even a piece of paper without stopping to draw. I think she would prefer to draw and paint most of her waking hours (if she didn't have a brother who would prefer to play with her all of his waking hours). She processes the world through drawing. Often when we are out, she observes something and immediately asks me if I have something to draw with. She enjoys a sight briefly and then needs to get it on paper.(Granted, many drawings tend to end up as a princess or girl...as if everything she sees in the world becomes a muse for another pretty lady. Her subject matter is fairly narrow at this point.)

A recent development is Adaline using art to express her emotions...namely anger. When she gets angry at you for any number of reasons, she stomps away and huffs. Soon she returns with a piece of paper. She angrily hands it over to you and leaves with more stomping and huffing. The picture reveals everything: a drawing of the person in question with a large "X" over them. You mess with Adaline: you get X-ed.

If you're lucky, she "hearts" and "flowers" you after a brief separation. It's her artistic interpretation of forgiveness, I guess.

It was very fun to be with my dad the artist because he set the kids up in his studio to paint with stuff I'll never have in our apartment (pictures below). At one point the kids were on top of a huge drawing they were working on together. Some sort of argument took place, followed by mutual life-size X-ing out of each other, and resolved in hearts and flowers. They rushed to tell me the good news (that they forgave each other without my intervention). I wish all conflict resolution was that easy! Processing anger through art is much more calm than the hair-pulling and hitting that usually occur around here. Maybe I should market the "X" technique...for adults as well as children?

Both kids want to be an artist when they grow up after their experience with "Pa." (Although, they currently want to be a Rockette after going to a show--see pics on Jamison's blog.)