Our newest Christmas family tradition is ... planting a baby Christmas Tree in our backyard. We will plant a baby Christmas Tree every year and watch them all grow. We read Christmas Farm by Mary Lyn Ray on this special day. This is one of our very favorite Christmas books. It is a celebration of Christmas and growing things.
"At last it was time for Parker and Wilma to choose their trees. That night, across their yards, Christmas twinkled. Far away, too, in rooms they never saw, in places they never knew, five hundred and sixty-six trees that Wilma and Parker had grown wore lights and balls and tinsel in their branches--green balsam branches that smelled the sweet smell of Christmas." (Christmas Farm by Mary Lyn Ray)
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Yesterday, December 13th, was St. Lucia Day. Our family loves observing this traditional Swedish celebration. Legend has it that once during a great famine in Sweden, Saint Lucia appeared with a circle of lights on her head to deliver food to people in need. So, on this morning in Swedish homes today, children wake up early and secretly prepare a special breakfast of coffee, saffron buns, and gingersnaps. The oldest daughter in the family will then wear a white gown, red sash, and a crown of candles on her head to deliver the breakfast to her parents.
In our home, we bake St. Lucia Crown Bread and gingersnaps for St. Lucia Day. We also sing a simple song and read the story of St. Lucia. "Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia Wearing white, wearing white Lighting up the darkest, lighting up the darkest Winter night, winter night. Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia Crown alight, crown alight Hope in the darkest, hope in the darkest Winter night, winter night." (tune: Are You Sleeping?) Happy Saint Lucia Day! This week we read Apple Tree Christmas by Trinka Hakes Noble. We love this old-fashioned farm family Christmas story. Every year the family uses the apples from their dear, old apple tree to decorate their Christmas tree. This gave us the idea to decorate our home for Christmas using apples. So we made apple and orange garland to string up on our windows. It does look festive!
"Once upon a time there was a little tree, a beautiful, healthy, green tree. But it was not happy. The little tree did not have soft, green leaves like the other trees in the forest. It had hard, sharp needles, and it did not like them."
This little tree began to wish it could have golden leaves, then glass leaves, then soft green leaves. The tree got each one of these wishes. But the tree slowly began to discover that it was perfect all along. After reading this warm and reassuring story, we imagined what our own little Christmas trees might wish to be. Then we decorated trees with oil pastels and watercolors. We put a shining star on top of each tree. "And then a little shining star fell down from heaven...and landed on top of the little tree." The second week of Advent is here! We are lighting the first and second candles on our Advent Wreath now. We also added gifts from the plant kingdom, branches from our Christmas tree and little pine cones, to our Advent Garden. We read Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones once more, as we think about the whole world anticipating and preparing for the birth of Jesus Christ.
I think handmade Christmas gifts are the sweetest. We practiced our sewing skills last week while making these beaded felt star ornaments. We also read Christmas Eve by Else Wenz-Vietor.
"It's Christmas Eve, the moon is bright. Ten little angels fly through the night.
The first angel smiles and flying low, brings food to animals in the snow." Our first week of Advent was filled with stars and angels. It was filled with Christmas wonder and magic. We read The Christmas Angels by Else Wenz-Vietor. In this story, Christmas Angels quietly help with things on earth. So, we made our own angel star wands and put on "halos". We became "Christmas Angels" and helped each other throughout the day. We also took this time, as a family, to think about how we can help others at Christmas. The star wands were so simple and so magical! We cut stars out of white felt. Then we painted those felt stars with watercolors. After they dried, we stitched two stars together with embroidery floss. Finally, we placed a wooden craft stick into the bottom of the star to make our wands. My smallest angel, Ava, was napping when we finally took these pictures. I will have to get one of her and add it soon. December 6th is St. Nicholas Day! We celebrate this day each year. We love this old-fashioned tradition! We bake Spiced Star Speculaas Cookies from Holland and read the story of St. Nicholas from Germany (it is found in the Winter Wynstones Press book).
Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, who lived around AD 325. He was well-known and loved for his kindness and generosity, especially towards children. He provided food, clothing, and gold to the very poor. Legend has it that he rides his white horse down from the stars in the heavens on the night of his birthday (Dec. 6) to visit children and to prepare their hearts for the coming of Jesus Christ. So, on the night of December 6th, my children leave their shoes, filled with hay for St. Nicholas's horse, by the front door. The next morning, their shoes are filled with a little candy and their first gifts of Christmas time. (In our home, it is always a book wrapped in pretty paper and tied with ribbon.) Happy St. Nicholas Day! During Advent, our focus is on anticipating, preparing, and celebrating the coming of Our Savior. We think of how the whole world is getting ready for the birth of Jesus Christ. This first week, we look to the mineral kingdom.
In the Waldorf tradition, as a way to simplify and bring order to our anticipating and celebrating, we focus on one kingdom each week. The first week is the mineral kingdom. During the second week of Advent, we will focus on the plant kingdom, then the animal kingdom, and then humankind. This week, as we set our focus on the mineral kingdom, we think of the stars in the heavens and how they declare the glory of God, and how they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We read The Three Wise Men by Loek Koopmans. "Long, long ago, a very special star appeared in the night sky. It shone more brightly than all the other stars, and people shouted with excitement when they saw it. They pointed up at the sky, calling their neighbours to come and look at it. It was the most beautiful star that anyone had ever seen." (Three Wise Men, Loek Koopmans) After reading this beautiful and gentle story of the Three Wise Men and the star they followed, we made stars using the wet-on-wet watercolor technique. Their soft and peaceful colors celebrate the coming of our Savior! Our final Jan Brett Christmas book from last week (there are actually more that we read later in the month) was Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve. This is a funny story of a little girl and her family, who are pestered by some terrible trolls every Christmas Eve. But one Christmas Eve a little boy and his snow bear, who were just passing through, stop to help the girl get rid of the trolls for good. Now the family can enjoy their Christmas Eve feast in peace!
After reading this book, we created a magical little space of snow and ice for everyone to play with and create their own little Christmas adventures. All it took was some white felt, sparkling white pom-pom balls, white stones for :"snow" and clear stones for "ice" (just vase-fillers from the craft store). The snowy Christmas fun has begun!!! |
AuthorHi, I'm Allison! Wife, mother to four sweet babies. Archives
March 2019
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