Ornaments, Revisited

I was so devastated that Iris’s ornament did not arrive a few days ago.  Our holiday plans included letting Theo and Quentin make ornaments for Nelle and Iris today and it was with a bit of “breathe… and let go.”  After all, they are kids.  Who knew what the outcome would be.

A friend had given me two wooden angel ornaments to decorate, so we set the kids up at the table with paint pens.  As a result only of timing, Ger was overseeing the project, since I had to feed Autumn and put her down for a nap.  Before I left the room, I asked “Who wants to decorate an angel for Nelle, and who wants Iris?”  Quentin immediately shrieked “I WANT IRIS!”  Theo complained “No, I want Iris.”  Foreseeing a squabble, I averted that by saying “Theo, you are the older boy and Nelle is the older girl – can you please do one for Nelle?”  Under this logic, he agreed.

By the time I re-entered the room twenty minutes later, they were both hard at work.  The finished products truly made me smile.  They were colorful, joyous representations of the personalities of my big kids.  Both put a lot of thought into their angels.  I particularly liked that Theo’s angel had a Star of David on the front.  He had asked a few weeks ago if we could celebrate Christmas AND Hanukkah AND Kwanzaa.  I told him that I can only handle one holiday, but liked his multicultural mindset.  Quentin’s angel included the printed letters N, I, and A “for all three of our babies.”  Ger helped them add the girls’ names to the bottom of the angels.

I asked the big kids if they wanted the angels on our big tree in the living room, or on the little tree I have for Nelle and Iris in our master bedroom.  Both of them responded, unequivocally “BIG TREE!”  It made me smile.