A Stroke of Genius

After seeing the movie Four Christmases over the holiday, my husband joked about how the film depicts his family perfectly. We are a part of what I like to refer to as the "modern-day" family; the many members and many commitments often lead to a somewhat complicated and often very busy holiday.

So how does Mom (aka me) shop for the modern-day family? It is a task that has daunted me every birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, etc. Lucky for me, a solution presented itself after I had kids. One word: artwork. Grandparents love it and I have more artwork than I know what to do with. As an added bonus, I have discovered that children create art in all forms...on post-it notes, on the grocery list, on my school-work, the list is endless. Yes, a scratch and a scribble, and in my book, it is fit to be tied with a bow and presented as a gift.

Back in November, I discovered that a local pottery painting studio in Berkeley, Brushstrokes, offered a number of different ceramic ornaments that could be painted in honor of the holiday. Need I say more? It was perfection. And so, I dutifully packed up the kids and journeyed over to Brushstrokes almost on a weekly basis until the week before Christmas. Given that my 3 year old artist is a bit temperamental and often times easily distracted from the task at hand, we had to allow for a signficant amount of leadtime in order to have the project completed before the holiday.

A few photos from our escapades:

Lucia was a trooper through most of the sessions, as long as I came prepared with plenty of snacks and allowed her to spin the pottery wheel endlessly.


Here is Giancarlo hard at work on a train Christmas ornament. He was really great to paint as many mugs, ornaments, and other knick-knacks as I placed in front of him. At times, I felt like I had a bit of a sweat shop going.

Some of the fruits of our labor: a coffee mug, a train Christmas ornament, and a tile.



All in all, wonderful gifts and the grandparents couldn't have been happier.

-Francesca