Here is another Jan Brett Christmas book we read during our Circle Time last week. It is The Twelve Days of Christmas. It is the traditional Christmas song put with the gorgeous illustrations of Jan Brett. I love pretty much all things old-fashioned, and this song and picture book combination is just that!
After reading/singing this book aloud, we began making Christmas gifts for my good friends and Classical Conversations tutors, Miss Amber and Miss Becca. Since this song/book is all about gift giving at Christmas time, it was perfect! "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree." We made wet felted Christmas ball ornaments. Then we needled felted a dove on each one.
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The Advent Garden is a European tradition that we began in our family many years ago. It is simple and so meaningful. "Legend has it that beginning with the first Sunday of Advent, the natural world--the kingdoms of minerals, plants, and animals--rejoices at the coming of the Christ Child and offers a gift for the Creator's son." (Sarah Ban Breathnach's Mrs. Sharp's Traditions)
So, on the first Sunday of Advent, our children gather stones, crystals, and shells to place near or inside our Advent Wreath to begin our Advent Garden. The second Sunday, they add gifts from the plant kingdom: pinecones, small branches cut from our Christmas tree, holly, and possibly red roses. On the third Sunday, the animal kingdom "joins the celebration" as we add small wooden toy animals to the garden. Finally, on the fourth Sunday, we add Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph figures. Then our Advent Garden is complete. While we add to our Advent Garden and with the Advent Candles lit, we say these verses: The first light of Advent is the light of stones, The light of hope that shines in crystals, seashells, and bones. The second light of Advent is the light of the plants, The light of love that reaches up to sun and in the breezes dance. The third light of Advent is the light of the beasts, The light of peace that we see in the greatest and in the least. The fourth light of Advent is the light of humankind, The light of joy that is yours and mine. After we light our Advent Candles and add each kingdom, we read Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This is the most beautiful and moving book to read for Advent. That is why we read it every Sunday of the Advent Season. It is a story that tells of the entire world preparing for and anticipating the birth of Baby Jesus. "The skies shouted it to the seas that thundered it to the waves that roared it to the great white whales that sang it to the starfish in the deep. And tiny sandpipers danced it on shining sands... It's time! It's time!" (Song of the Stars) If you read only one book for the Advent Season, this book should be the one! We are celebrating the first week of Advent! Such an exciting time at our house! This week, we light the first candle on our Advent Wreath each morning. As we light it we say...
"With this candle we remember God’s promise of HOPE, His promise of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wait in HOPE. He brings HOPE to the world. This first candle, we light in HOPE." We will light one more candle each week. This is what we will say... Second Light: "With this candle we remember God’s promise of LOVE, His promise of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wait in LOVE. He brings LOVE to the world. This first candle, we light in LOVE." Third Light: "With this candle we remember God’s promise of PEACE, His promise of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wait in PEACE. He brings PEACE to the world. This first candle, we light in PEACE." Fourth Light: "With this candle we remember God’s promise of JOY, His promise of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wait in JOY. He brings JOY to the world. This first candle, we light in JOY." I love these verses so much because they use words like "remember" and "wait". This is what the Advent Season is all about. Remembering, waiting, anticipating, and celebrating! The Yule Tomte and the Little Rabbits by Ulf Stark and Eva Eriksson is our new favorite Christmas story for Advent. This Swedish story is told over 25 chapters, one for every day of December. We are reading one chapter each night as our bedtime story this month. We all are enjoying this sweet little story of a grumpy tomte and the animals in the forest preparing for Christmas so very much. We love it so much in fact that we needle felted our very own Yule Tomte!
The Advent Season is all about waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus. Every night in December we celebrate the coming of Our Savior with the lighting of the Advent Spiral. We light the first candle on the first night of December, then every night after we light one more. So that each night we are lighting one more candle and getting one candle closer the the center of the spiral, Christmas Day.
"Winter is dark, yet each tiny spark, Brightens the way, to Christmas Day. Shine little light, and show us the way, To the bright light of Christmas Day." We say this little poem as we light the candles. We read our Advent Verse from the Advent Card. We say our bedtime prayers together. We blow out the candles. And we go to bed. "After the feast, the troll family sat by the fire, home for Christmas, all together, singing and telling stories far into the night."
The Christmas Season can feel like a busy and hectic time of year for any family. It is so easy to fill up the December calendar with activities, shopping, gatherings, parties, and such. It is easy to feel that we are constantly being pulled away from our home and away from the people we love the most. Jan Brett's Home for Christmas reminds me of what I really want for our Christmas Time each year. I want to slow down and be at home with my family. I want to enjoy this time of year with the ones I love. I want to focus on them. I want to put most of my time and energy into my family, our traditions, and make it a "homemade" Christmas. After we read Home for Christmas last week, we made homemade marshmallows and hot chocolate. Now, we can sip our hot chocolate as we sit by the fire, "home for Christmas, all together, singing and telling stories far into the night". This past week, we have been getting into the Christmas spirit with Christmas books by Jan Brett. Jan Brett is at the very top of our all-time favorite author and illustrator list. On the first day, we read The Wild Christmas Reindeer. After reading, we made Reindeer Grain (oats and glitter) to sprinkle on Christmas Eve. We then played some reindeer games. We played "Pass Rudolph's Red Nose". We held "Reindeer Races". And we played "Pin the Nose on Rudolph". Today we began our Thanksgiving Day Dinner preparations. We also took some time to read, of course! We read my favorite Thanksgiving story, Cranberry Thanksgiving, by Wende and Harry Devlin. This story will put you in the Thanksgiving spirit, for sure! Then we made cranberry chutney for our Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow and Cranberry Orange Muffins for today. These muffins turned out to be the very best cranberry muffins we have ever made. We are getting really excited for Thanksgiving!
We finished up our celebration of squirrels and nuts last week with the story of Woody, Hazel, and Little Pip by Elsa Beskow. In it, two acorn children adventure into the woods, and Mr. Squirrel goes out searching for them. After reading this story, we made little acorn children just like the ones in the story. We painted simple wooden peg dolls with watercolor paints. Then, we gave them eyes and cute little acorn caps. Much time has been spent playing with our new acorn children. I love how handmade and child-made they look!
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AuthorHi, I'm Allison! Wife, mother to four sweet babies. Archives
March 2019
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