Anyone who knows you will tell you that I’m the sort of Mum who loves to bake and craft with my child in the run-up to Christmas.
Or at least… they will tell you that if I pay them enough money.
The truth is I can’t cook very well. I have precisely one Christmas craft (snow globes) and one Christmas recipe (Bauble Cookies) in my repertoire. I’ve also tried this lovely ice craft from Boo Berritt, and it’s a good one!
Fortunately Flea seems to have inherited my fundamental disinterest in being good at crafts. There’s not much I find less entertaining than cutting things up and sticking them together. Except possibly things involving glitter. Nothing involving glitter ever ended well, in my experience.
Perhaps that’s why I’m so pleased the cub group Flea goes to takes part in a Christmas card making project each October. At one of our autumn meetings, the kids sit down with pens and pencils and glitter, and draw Christmas cards. The website turns these designs into a Christmas card, which are then given to parents so we can order personalised Christmas cards in time for the festive season, featuring our child’s design – AND raise money for the cubs at the same time.
Amazing, right?
Now, I’m all about letting children be creative on their own terms, so I didn’t interfere with Flea’s picture last year. She drew a lovely snowman and a (slightly wonky) MERRY CHRISTMAS sign. Adorable.
This year?
Well, the Father Christmas and the kitten-sized reindeer are adorable, to be sure.
But what’s that picture on the stocking, there, over the fireplace?
“It’s a cross, Mummy,” explained Flea.
Oh.
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help but thinking it looks a little bit like, well, like a swastika, to be frank.
And now I’m faced with the dilemma of all dilemmas.
Do I not buy the festive-nazi Christmas cards and risk being a terrible parent and not valuing her creativity, or do I buy and send the cards and risk offending all our friends and family?
Or do I buy the cards and send them to people we’re not all that keen on?
What would you do?
