We are all busy these days working hard on our Christmas crafts and gifts. We have an ongoing plan and have been organized since December first with a timeline and schedule for completion. I am so proud of both girls for being determined and focused on finishing the gifts and learning new crafts. Each gift has been carefully chosen, planned, and executed. We are on track for Christmas delivery in Alabama and Virginia and the annual Skating Club of Brunswick's Christmas show!
Sophie "school" this month has been learning about the holiday and other traditions that are celebrated this time of year. There are some things I wished I'd planned out better like celebrating St. Nicholas' Tag on December 6th and learning about Hanukkah throughout the 8 days, however the play did take a lot of extra time and energy—so, there's always next year!
Meanwhile we have been watching Christmas movies, baking cookies, working on crafts, learning new crafts, and just spending wonderful time together. It's been a nice "break" and Sophie has accomplished a lot of great work—the week after Christmas will feature posts of pictures of all the gifts she made for the special people in her life.
I am grateful, as I continue to be on a daily basis, for the time we have together, especially this Christmas. I can honestly say, even with ALL the gifts we've made and need to keep track of and ALL the cookies we've baked, it's been one of the most relaxing, joyous, lovely Christmas' of my life. Thank you Sophie and Lily for working so hard and so well together. You both should be very proud of yourselves and all that you've accomplished this month! Every person who receives one of your gifts this year will know that you made it with love and hard work and that means so much more than anything you can ever buy at a store.
I was wondering as I watched the news and heard the pleas for Toys for Tots, which we have donated to in the past, about the meaning of Christmas and the true spirit of giving gifts. Granted, although I cannot say we didn't spend ANY money this Christmas, I can say we spent an insignificant amount for what we managed to produce! Besides, each gift was carefully planned and created for each individual person on their list—it has truly been magical watching them create these beautiful gifts with love and pride.
Activities:
Music
Art
Christmas Crafts
Cookies
Book Report: Christmas USA by Mary D. Lankford
Assignment: Read about each region and write at least two summary sentences.
Northeast: In the 1600s and 1700s the Puritans in Massachusetts did not celebrate Christmas at all. Until 1828 it was just another day to them.
Do you know why?
A: the Nativity story wasn't in their Bible
Southeast: Now these folks are more festive than the Northeastern folks. Every Christmas Eve tor the past 25 years they put lighted floats on the river as a parade.
Great Lakes: Now this region is known as one of the best Christmas Tree producers in the world. Michigan now hosts a festival tree contest to see who has the best decorated tree.
Mountains: A tradition in the mountain states on Christmas is to have pancakes. They all had a feast with elk and sourdough bread pancakes and really good food.
Plan States: Ornaments came from the plain states in 1870. They started the tradition of decorating trees with garland and pretty ornaments and lights. Now everywhere in USA almost every family does it now.
Southwest: The Southwest culture celebrates Christmas by decorating cacti as Christmas trees.
No comments:
Post a Comment