CHILDREN GIVE GIFTS FROM HEART

Now that Christmas has come and gone, it is safe to talk about those homemade gifts without spoiling any surprises.

And now parents know why Johnny just HAD to have that picture of Mom when she was his age or why Susie was rummaging around for some scraps of fabric. Also explained are the endless questions about which one would be nicer: a pot or a cup, and just exactly what do you put in that stuff you fix for supper sometimes?

In many households the selection of ornaments for the tree grows with each child's progress in school. Trimming the tree might take a little longer too as time is spent reminiscing about a favorite teacher or project.

This year was no different. With the aid of industrious teachers, students throughout the area were busy creating Christmas "surprises" for parents and other loved ones.

Marissa Benn, a ninth-grade student at Central Junior High, planned on traveling to Florida for Christmas. She had been making cinnamon ornaments in Kim Diebold's class.

"I'm going to give some to my aunt in Florida," she said. "The whole car will smell like cinnamon."

There were a lot of little angels flying around Carol Reiman's first-grade class at Clippard Elementary. With Reiman's help students created angel ornaments using their school picture for the face.

"This is something we've been doing for years," said Reiman. "It's something the parents ask to be repeated each year."

Reporting for Amy Surman's third-grade class at Franklin Elementary were Chris Brooks, Ashley Cutright, Jesse Lawrence and Mallory Rhodes. The class made wreaths by tracing their hands on red, green and white construction paper. The middle was cut from paper plates and then the cutouts of the hands were placed on the plates. "The wreaths were hard to make, but we made it," said the group.

Surman's classroom also "smelled" like Christmas with the applesauce and cinnamon ornaments the students made. After a dough was made and rolled, students used cookie cutters to fashion ornaments. The drying process took a few days keeping the room fragrant.

After all the turkey and trimmings of the holidays, cooks are often looking for something new to fix. Trying one of the recipes in the Kindergarten Cookbook created by Jill Pinkston's kindergarten class at Scott City Elementary might do the trick. Students are asked to explain how their mothers fix their favorite dish.

"I write down exactly what the students say," said Pinkston. Some minor adjustments may need to be made when attempting to create the dish.

Chili is Tyler Lindeman's favorite. "You've got to have beans, and meat and sauce. And a lot of, I mean a lot of, other ingredients," he said. The chili must be really good, because according to Lindeman, "Everybody will eat this!"

After the recipes are compiled, Pinkston types them and puts them into book form. Students then color the cover and illustrations throughout the book.

Seventh-grade students at L.J. Schultz were involved in several Christmas projects. "In gifted classes we have been making cookies for our parents," said Jennifer Sexton. Students took the project from start to finish by mixing the dough, rolling and cutting the cookies, baking and decorating before boxing and wrapping for gifts to parents.

Some students made pots, bowls and cups of clay. "The school provided the clay and Mrs. Fidler, the art teacher, fired them in the school kiln," said Patrick Jernigan.

Jennifer Pancoast used fabric scraps to create a stocking ornament in lifeskills class. "We used two pieces of fabric to make the stocking and one piece of different fabric to make the heel and toe," she said.

Next year when the kids start acting a little "funny" and seem to really LIKE going to school, it might just be that they are busy creating Christmas surprises to share with the family.