I feel like many parents (myself included) feel a lot of pressure to create the perfect holiday magic for our kids.
It’s all on us.
It’s enough to make us crazy trying to do all the things, see all the Santas, hide all the elves, buy all the gifts, and craft all the glorious glittered perfection.
But me? I’m learning to lean back and just let my kid do his thang. Because he doesn’t need perfect. At all. He doesn’t need the front cover of Country Living, people.
He just needed his own giant dino tree. As you will.
When I brought out the full-size silver “tinsel” tree (which was displayed in our dining room in the old house), he quickly claimed it for his own.
This would not have been my choice. His room isn’t very big. The tree is really messy.
But he was insistent. And he loves it. So I love it, too. He told me, “I’ve never seen a tree that looks this nice.”
Bam. Magic.
(Shirtless, blurry magic.)
This became a bonafide project for us. The perfect way to spend the weeks before Christmas.
THE DINO TREE PROJECT.
Because, if he was going to have a tree, Henry NEEDED it to be a dino tree. All the -sauruses are his current obsession. And he had loads of ideas for the coolest tree ever. (He may get that from me, too.)
Since I didn’t want to buy lots of new ornaments for what will very likely be the only year he loves dinos this much, we used what we had and made what we needed.
I think it turned out pretty tyranno-tastic, if I do say so myself.
We turned to this salt dough ornament recipe from Creekwood Hill. It was perfect.
Henry and I both enjoyed the project, and the dinosaur ornaments turned out perfectly. My friend lent us some dinosaur cookie cutters, and we also made some round ornaments with dinosaur “fossils” from his toys. He really loved cutting the shapes and had a solid hour of entertainment with the dough.
When they were cooled, we agreed on gold paint. Henry painted one before he got bored and told me to “go ahead and paint the rest of them.”
Okay then.
I think any color would have looked great on the tree, but I like the gold a lot.
Henry hung a few ornaments before he basically sat on the bed and dictated where he wanted them. (He may also get THAT from me.)
My friend Stephanie also dropped off some kid’s ornaments to paint – they were another cute addition after Henry painted them.
We also added some solid ornaments we found in my Christmas boxes, and some random other ornaments and toys that struck Henry’s fancy.
So, as usual, my son is teaching me all kinds of valuable lessons this Christmas.
Like, dino trees are the coolest and most beautiful of all. And that it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive to be wonderful. And that as parents, we don’t have to CREATE all the magic.
Sometimes, we just have to let the magic happen.
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Bonnie says
Thats a great idea! turned out wonderful!!
Marty Walden says
Love this, Kim! Taking time to enjoy the season instead of stressing over perfection. Your family is blessed!
Gretchen@BoxyColonial says
Woot! You know I’m a big fan of dino Christmas :). Look how happy he is!
Kayla AKA Kilo Bravo says
I love, love, love this post Kim! It really is a great reminder to just let kids be kids – they can have more fun just walking to the park then actually being at the playground, if you will. Their version of perfect may not be ours, but that’s not what matters, anyway.
Also – holidays in general really do change in a great way when you get to see them through your child’s eye.
Hope your family has a great holiday in your new home.
Shannon LaPay says
I love his Dino tree. It is super awesome and he is so proud of it. He made sure I knew it was a Dino tree. Merry Christmas H-Man
Cassie Bustamante says
how fun! i think dinos are the new christmas thing…. i have always loved gretchen’s dino tree, and now this! and at target the other day i saw a white t-rex cookie jar and i was so tempted!