A Mesozoic Christmas

Thanks to a brilliant craft idea from Abbey, who was inspired by a tip from Stephanie, I spent the day crafting up a winter wonderland Mikey and Nicholas can appreciate. Glittered reindeer? Looks good, mom! Glittered dinosaurs? You’re the best mom ever, mom! False.

When I told Mikey and Nicholas last week that I would be covering in glitter the cheap dinosaurs I bought at Michaels (the ones they were playing with as if they didn’t have 52 million other dinosaurs of the same variety but ten times more expensive) all game playing came to a halt. Imagine the sound of the largest record on earth screeching to a halt, with Mikey bringing Tyrannosaurus Rex up to his chest in a protective hug.

“You’re going to what?!”  Horror.  Four horror filled eyes looked up at me.  Even the dinosaurs looked scared.

“I’m going to cover them in glitter and put them on the tree table in the toy room.  It’s going to be Dinosaur Mountain!  I’m telling you, you’re going to love it!” Please. Now you’re opposed to glitter? You used to be quite the fan. A really big fan, in fact.

Crickets.  Many crickets chirping.

“But, Mama,”  Mikey explained to me in a tone one normally reserves for the feeble, “Mama, dinosaurs don’t glitter.”

This went on for several minutes, the dinosaurs suddenly children in a bad custody case.  Finally, I had no choice but to put my legal education to use.  My closing argument went something like this:

“WE ARE GLITTERING THE DINOSAURS AND BY GOD YOU TWO ARE GOING TO LOVE IT!”

Then I called my mother in law and told her she needed to head to Michaels pronto and buy some dinosaurs for her grandsons for Christmas.

Yesterday I glittered the dinosaurs. I put Nicholas to bed and laid out all the supplies on the dining room table.  Mikey, his head stuffed with a cold, sniffed both to alleviate sinus pressure and communicate his disdain.

“Do you want to work on the dinosaurs with me, Mikey?”

“No, because dinosaurs don’t glitter.  I’ll just work on my lego car.”

Suit yourself.

I just finished gluing and glittering Tyrannosaurus Rex when Mikey approached the table.

“Whoa.  What did you do to that Tyrannosaurus Rex?”

“I glittered him.  Now I’m going to do the rest.”  Holds breath.

“He looks really cool, mom!”

Releases breath.

“Aw, thanks, Mikey!”  But really I was thinking, Thankyouverymuch maybe now you will think twice before you argue with your mother because I think I know you just a little bit better than you give me credit for, little mister.

Also, AHA!  I KNEW IT!

Mikey kept checking on my progress until all four dinosaurs were covered in glitter and ready to perform alongside white tigers in Las Vegas.

Mikey likes the Stegosaurus best because he looks like “he’s on fire.”  I like the Brachiosaurus best because he comes closest to the vintage colored glass I wanted.  Overall, everyone was happy, including the dinosaurs.

At night is when they look the prettiest, coming close to how I envisioned them in my mind when I first saw Abbey’s post. This year I went with a cheap snow blanket since I didn’t know how the project would turn out. Next year I will probably use a piece of muslin and spread some of that cotton-candy fake snow if I am confident Nicholas won’t fiddle with it too much. I will also replace the tree lights underneath the blanket with a lit table garland. The lights get a bit hot for my comfort, and I think a garland would look better overall.  In the next day or so I will tape down the tree wires if I get the energy and position the dinos better.  We’ll see.  Right now I am pleased everyone likes Dinosaur Mountain–initial furious mutiny notwithstanding.

Related posts:

1. Dinosaurs Love Their Mommy
2. Oh, Christmas Tree
3. Christmas Miracles
4. One Bad Egg
5. The Cursed Christmas Cards