Gemma's Creations

Gemma ran to the kitchen. Her mom was cooking dinner. "Can I have some colored paper?" She asked her momma. 

"Do you mean construction paper, Gemma?"She looked at Gemma. " I have some."

"Yes. I think. If that's what we use at school." Gemma wasn't completely sure about that.

Her mom chuckled, "it is. There's some in my art box, I will get some out for you, but after we eat dinner. You can make whatever you want."

"Ok, momma. Then let me help you cook dinnner." Gemma drug the heavy step stool over to the counter by her mom. "What are you making for dinner momma? It smells good."

"This is a salad I'm making. I have a ham in the oven. And potatoes that I will mash. You can help with that. It can be fun. And that is a pumpkin pie. Oooh, sounds good doesn't it?"

"Yeah." Gemma laughed.

"These are the vegetables that go into the salad." Her mom pointed to different vegetables.

"That one is red. What is it momma?" Gemma pointed.

"It's a radish. I like them. Some of them can be hot." Her mom watched Gemma take a bite of one.

Gemma made a face when she crunched into it. "What is that orange one?" Gemma pointed again at a long orange vegetable.

"That's a carrot. Bunnies love to eat them." Her mom laughed at Gemma's response. 

"Then I will love them too." Gemma nodded.

Her mom just chuckled as Gemma kept asking questions.

"What is that green one? It looks like a weird pickle?" Gemma made a face at what she was pointing at.

"It's a cucumber. It's what a pickle looks like before it becomes a pickle." Her mom laughed at Gemmas expression. 

"Momma? How long before dinner?" Gemma's question sounded a bit sad. 

"Well why Gemma?" She looked down at her. Gemma seemed sad.

"Well, I want to help you, but I really wanted the colored paper to make dec.. deco..." Gemma got frustrated when she couldn't pronounce the word.

"Decorations?" Her mom asked.

"Yes." Gemma laughed. "I wanted to make them for the table. For when we eat." She said happily. "We learned about Thanksgiving and how some of the pa.... pil... grims...' She looked at her mom.

" Yes pilgrims." She smiled at Gemma. 

"Well they made... Things to put on the tables.." she smirked.

"Centerpieces?" Her mom asked. 

"Yes." Gemma simply said.

"I didn't know that's what you wanted it for. I will get some now."

Her mom brought, colored paper, scissors, glue and glitter and sat it on the table in front of Gemma. "There's lots if things to do in here, Gemma."

Gemma's eyes got wide. She giggled. "That's a lot of stuff momma. But I don't see any crayons." She pointed to the stuff on the table.

"I thought I would let you use the glitter for once." She smiled at Gemma.

Gemma danced around. "Whoo hoo!" She was so excited. Mom never let her use the glitter before. Not by herself.

Her mom laughed as she danced. "What are you going to make?"

Gemma laughed. "You'll see, momma."

Gemma gathered everything into a pile. She grabbed an orange sheet of paper. She looked at the countertop and spotted the carrots. But then she looked at the front porch and saw the pumpkins. Gemma made a decision. With one long cut, then another, she made a perfect carrot. She grabbed the green and started shredding it. With the glue, she spread glue over the shreds of green and stuck it to the carrot she had cut out. She looked at it and nodded. It was good.

With another piece of orange, she cut out a round piece. Cutting a round piece was hard. She grabbed the glue then made lines across it. It puddled in some places. She just wiped it with her fingers. 

Finding the brown glitter, she dumped it on the orange piece covered in glue. Glitter was everywhere. She then cut another piece of green in what she thought looked like a box. She glued it to the round paper. It kind of looked like a pumpkin.

She remembered what they did in school. So she traced her hand on a yellow piece. She stuck out her tongue in concentration. This was hard work. Then she did the same thing with an orange piece. Then a red piece. Then a blue piece. She cut them out as best she could. A few of them missing a finger or two. It was ok, she thought. It will work.

 She cut off all the thumbs but one. Then she put each piece on top of the other until the fingers looked like feathers and glued them together. "A turkey," she said.

"Dinnertime Gemma!" Her mom called to her. "Let's eat!"

"Wait! Before we eat, would you help me get these to the table?" Gemma raised some of her creations.

Her mom came to help Gemma. She couldn't help but laugh at what she saw. She told Gemma to stay put. She went and got her camera. Gemma had the art table covered in muck. 

Her mom told Gemma to hold up each piece one at a time. First, she grabbed the carrot. It was all crooked and her mom wasn't quite sure if that is what it was, but she went with it. She took pictures of all of Gemma's creations. Then Gemma posed in lots of funny poses.

Gemma was covered in glue, and bits of paper and glitter. Her mom thought it would take a month to clean her up, but she did the best she could before dinner and they decorated the table with Gemma's creations.

" This is the best dinner I think we have had in many years, momma." Gemma smiled at her mom.

Her mom chuckled at the 5-year-old using the words "in many year's". "Yes, it is. Maybe we can do it every year."

They ate and laughed until the food was gone.