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Flurry of Paper Snowflakes
Yesterday we were over at my friend’s house for a playdate and the little girl showed Bug how to make a snowflake. Bug quickly caught on and danced around the kitchen showing everyone her creation. “This is the first snowflake I’ve ever made!” she sang.
“Brenda!” my friend gasped. “You’ve never taught your kid how to make a snowflake!!”
I hung my head in shame. It was true. I think we made snowflakes when she was three or something but she probably didn’t cut them herself. I probably took over and made them all for her. Or, you know me, I was probably off trying to invent some other craft that hadn’t been invented before. I don’t have time for silly snowflakes! Bah! I can make snowflakes in my sleep.
But truthfully, I was a little ashamed with myself. I love snowflakes! How have we not made this a tradition? We should cover our windows in snowflakes STAT!
So this morning we got right to work.
I love the suspense of unfolding a snowflake, wondering what all your little cuts will make.
Tah dah! Every one is better than the last.
Bug was having fun.
My desk was a flurry or paper drifts.
Bug decided to marker pen a Christmas message onto the window to go with our snowflakes. Her enthusiasm for scissors was waning. Scissors can be so hard for little fingers.
And it didn’t help that my overachiever cutting fingers had to decide to go big. Go big or go home! they yelled! It’s gonna be a great big blizzard up in here! Take that apartment complex that makes rules about chalk on the sidewalk! I’ll show you!
I may have gotten a little carried away.
About this time Bug was about ready to tell me to take my fancy snowflakes and go jump in a frozen lake. The fun element had definitely expired.
Come on! They’re pretty!
Even the mess is pretty!
The cats think so, when they’re not trying to eat them…
So there you go. Next time you’re walking along and you see a window filled up with intricately cut snowflakes, don’t be jealous of the super mom who has time to make ridiculously fun things with her kids. Go ahead and squeeze your normal well-adjusted kid because she’s probably a lot happier than mine who is currently buried under the covers having a temper tantrum because I won’t stop making snowflakes long enough to help her pick out a Thanksgiving Day Hello Kitty outfit.
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My fifteen minutes of fame.
It’s really random how the Good Morning America shoot came about. I got an email from a producer from ABC wanting to talk to me about back-to-school photos. I was going to blow it off. Not because I’m a snob but more because I’m a terrible speed reader and I thought it was some kind of PR pitch. I get those emails all the time. They are impersonal and usually have nothing to do with me.
Luckily, I happened to be working at (my publisher) Calee’s house that day and I mentioned it to her. Calee’s ears perked right up. She told me to get on the phone and call this woman right away because maybe it could be about back-to-school and I happen to have a back-to-school book
out right now. How great would that be to talk about my books on national television? Really super awesome, right?
After a quick pep talk from Calee, I called the producer. I was a ball of nerves. We talked a little bit. She seemed super nice. She has a daughter Bug’s age, etc… She’d seen my photos on Alpha+Mom and wanted to do a little story about what Bug and I do on the first day of school. I was confused because she kept asking me if I had any props for these photos that I take, like backdrops or funny signs or I don’t know, something special.
I had made a sign. It was just an 8.5×11 piece of computer paper. I also made a free printable for people to fill out but it wasn’t anything crazy. No backdrops, no professional photographers, no snow machines or giant fans. Just me and my camera. Did she want me to make something special? I could. I mean that’s what I do, after all. I am the queen of cardboard. I told her I was going to let Bug wear her cat ears in her photos, did that count? The producer said that sounded wonderful and that was that.
In hindsight, I think what happened was the producer had seen all the comments on the Alpha+Mom post and thought it had gone viral. When really what had happened was that Alpha+Mom had given away free clothes at Target on that post (the contest is long over and the contest copy removed). It wasn’t my amazing photos everyone was commenting on, they just wanted to win free clothes! But I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If ABC wanted to do a story on me then I was going to let them and tell them about my books while I was at it.
Little did I know this would be a big joke on me.
