Dad and Stacy arrived yesterday to celebrate Christmas with us. Stacy went to a birthday party when she was five years old and made a Shrinky Dink ornament that to this day hangs on her tree. It has great sentimental value to her. So, when she found a Shrinky Dink Christmas tree kit for sale, she decided to bring it to town to share a dose of nostalgia with us.
You know I love me a good family craft. :-)
There were 20 ornaments to color in the kit.
EVERY member of the family was required to color (at least) one.
Some of us (age 4) colored more than our fair share.
I forgot how much fun it is to color Shrinky Dinks. I have not thought about them in many moons.
The kit came with a cute little tree to decorate with all the ornament charms.
What started as a novel idea evolved into an entire evening's worth of entertainment. We had more fun sitting around the kitchen table working on this.
We took plenty of cookie breaks....as needed.
Then came the best part. Into the oven for two minutes!
We stood in rapt attention at my GE like it was a Samsung flat screen. They curl up real tight, then flatten back out again. We all cheered.
Yes, we are THAT family. :-)
They came out super tiny and very brightly colored. The kit included supplies to turn the charms into mini ornaments. Beads, plenty of colored beads.
And lots of sparkly tinsel. (You know who was VERY impressed.)
There was even a tree skirt and accompanying glitter pen for personal monogramming. We thought long and hard about what to name our tree. In the end, Emma got the final vote.
The Family Joy Tree.
We named it. Then we bedazzled it. Because we love a little bling with our sparkle.
Emma hung ornaments and rearranged garland and stayed involved for hours.
This was a home run idea. I feel the need for more Shrinky Dink family nights.
It could be that we are easily impressed around here.
Or it could be that Shrinky Dinks are as ultra cool today as they were thirty years ago.
Either way, it was a winner.
Our family joy:
Hearing about Stacy's new job at MIT in Boston
Listening to Hannah's tales of college life
Sampling many kinds of cookies
Two pots of homemade soup
Opa reading his bridge book and Buzzard reading Harry Potter by the tree lights
Emma giving every single Shrinky Dink a name
The boys excited about their final Bible Bowl practice
Talking about dogs.....we all love them and would adopt a dozen if we could
A Christmas music playlist
A second (and maybe third) round of cookies
Being together.
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