Pretty things in somebody's mailbox
Sunday, August 2, 2009
I have a craft space again! After spending almost an entire day sorting through what I wanted to keep and what I knew I would never use again, I found enough supplies to fill a small cave, and lit my dying spark of creativity to keep warm. It feels so good to be able to go upstairs and sit down at my table, open up a drawer on the desk, and pull something out, anything I want, and not drown myself in the remains of an unfinished scrapbook project from 2005.
Miss Eleanore, has a pen pal. Yes, shes only (almost) three years old, but the joys of sending and receiving mail are just too good for anybody to be without. She gets packages regularly from her Grammy (books, and clothes, and all sorts of fun things), but I thought maybe to have a friend her own age to send things back and forth to, would help teach her the joys of giving, sharing (we really could use some work in that department), and it would obviously be the ultimate in fun.
This morning I promised Elie that we would put a birthday package together for her friend up in Canada. I told her after I finished my coffee, we'd go upstairs and wrap things up all nice and pretty, just the way packages should be. Like all kids her age, Eleanore threw her impatience into extreme overload, leaning over and checking the inside my coffee cup every 3 seconds, whining and jumping up and down chanting something along the lines of "gonna make a package, gonna make a package" until I couldn't take it anymore and was forced to throw back the rest of my coffee as if it were a stiff drink (I wish). We went upstairs, made a cute and functional birthday card out of card stock and scribbled on scraps (she told me what to write inside), and then settled down on the floor to wrap things up in colored tissue papers and seal them in a crayola and ribbon covered envelope. She had so much fun putting the special birthday package together, that I had to remind her several times to calm down and breathe. And I'm not going to candy coat it, I had to remind myself to breathe too. If you've ever tried to do crafts with a 3 year old, then you probably understand how it could easily drive you to the edge of insanity, stopping just before you lose your balance.
I figured while I was at it, I may as well put together a few other packages that I had been wanting to get done. Not only put them together, but get fancy with the postal paper too. Christopher was a huge help to me today, sporting an unexplained amount of energy and completely willing to watch the kids and let me go upstairs to do things in peace and quiet. These kinds of days are few and far between, so I fully took advantage of it. I wrapped and I wrote, cut and created, adored and addressed. There is now a nice pile of pretties for Kevin Costner leaning against my front door. Be on the lookout?
4 comments:
You are so creative! I wish I could be artsy, but sadly, I am not, LoL.
Btw, have I mentioned how much of an awesome mother you are? Eleanore is so lucky to have a pen pal! I remember my first pen pal and how excited I would get when I received her letters.
Ah, the good ol' days :)
Another idea for encouraging sharing, giving, thinking of others, etc, would be a sponsor child.
The year after our son died, we went to World Vision's website where you can search for a sponsor child by birthdate (day, month, and year). We chose a little boy in Guatemala who was born on the exact same day as our son. We also chose one with the same birthday as our now six year old. As our family has grown, so has our "sponsor family".
(They aren't entered into the program until after their first birthday so we don't have a "sibling" for Andrew yet.)
At Christmas, their birthdays, and other times during the year, we go to the store and pick out gifts for "twin". This year, our six year old even used his own money. By choice.
It surprised me and made me SO proud.
Anyways, just an idea.
For the three sponsor children we have, it's a total of about $110/month, so it's definitely a commitment. But it's worth it and we sacrifice other things to be able to do it.
My older two, know their "brothers and sister" by name and -I hope- it's teaching them compassion, generosity and to think of others. Hopefully.
Man, I'm so stupid... Gracie is always drawing pictures for me to mail to her 'friends' but I never have anyone to send them to! I'm thinking lil' Miss Elie just might be getting a few 'letters' from Gracie, since she loves the mail so much! Gracie would LOVE to send her a letter or two!
(and I'll have to mail your snack cup, too!!)
your blog was visually stimulating alright! I love it. i also love your idea of giving your little girl a penpal. A great idea. when i lived in new zealand I had a penpal in switzerland e had the best relationship and sharing cultures and different things was the best thing i ever did. I even flew over there just to be with him and again one of the best decisions i ever made.
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