The Best Things In Life

I hope we can all sing along . . . "The best things in life are free"  Because with kids this is always the case. Today we took out a bunch of Holiday cards that were donated last year to the art room. I had my after school program kids cut them up and make collages on recycled matt board. They were so happy it was as if the iPad had never been invented.

I was the same way when I was a kid. Take for instance Disney World. My parents would work all year to bring us to Disney World for a week. We would load up the camper and drive from Connecticut to Florida every year. When we finally got there, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the parks. All I really wanted to do was feed the ducks in the campground creek and eat popsicles while exploring the Fort Wilderness trails. I even remember doing laundry with my mom in the campground's laundry mat and it was the coolest thing ever. There were 3 washers and dryers! Me and my mom would get to talk, while I sat on the warm dryer on a cool Florida night and folded the laundry. Those are the things I remember!

Now I have my own daughter and she has found fun of her own. She LOVES the idea of Santa Claus. She says "Ho Ho Ho!" every time we see him in a book or movie. So I thought, "we'd better rush to the mall to meet Santa." How wrong was I! As soon as I put her on his lap her smile turned to terror and they snapped this picture. They wanted to keep trying but there was no way I would leave her with this traumatizing man one minute longer. 

Santa

Mr. Tunnel

She does like one character though. I call him Mr. Tunnel for lack of a better name. She absolutely LOVES when her dad gets in her tunnel and walks around.  We think it's hysterical and she starts to talk to the tunnel and ask him to go "ousside." She thinks Mr. Tunnel is the best thing since Elmo. We might be a weird family because our daughter's favorite character happens to be a tunnel, most all of her clothes are second hand, and mommy doesn't believe in buying toys (there I've said it) although I did buy the tunnel;), but we wouldn't have it any other way. 

So thankful to have these memories and more to be made with my girl. 

This quote was from our BOE president and was very comforting so I'll share it with my fellow art teachers. 

 " We must allow for joy to continue to be expressed and celebrated.  We should embrace the innocence of childhood and fill ourselves with the spirit of youthful wonder. "

Although getting "in the spirit" is near impossible, allowing for that joy to expressed in our children is what we must do in the days ahead.