Hello dear readers! Christmas is behind us and a new year is looming closely on the horizon. I’ll do an after Christmas post for you soon, I hope.
In the meantime, I’m planning our first week back to school; perusing curriculum catalogs for the next school year and attempting to work up an entire Sunday School curriculum for our church. Not to mention birthdays…we have 3 in the next 7 days.
So be patient, I’ll be back soon and hopefully have some exciting things to share.
The kids and I have been busy little baking elves these last few days. More fat grams and calories have passed through our kitchen that I care to think about. Thankfully, phase II is being a delivery elf; and that phase goes into effect tomorrow.
So “if” I wanted to, I could count this as math (measuring), science (the baking), art (the decorating) and life skills. I’m not doing any of that, but we had a lot of fun together, and that’s what REALLY mattered.
As you can see, we’ve been busy…very busy! We’ve completed fudge, peanut butter balls, potato candy, ginger snaps, gingerbread men, snowball cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip turtle bar cookies and peanut butter blossoms. Thankfully, I lost my appetite a few days ago, so for the time being I’m in good shape!
As I’ve mentioned before, we lived in an area with lots of things to see and do. Yesterday we were privileged to attend a FREE presentation of Handel’s Messiah. It was wonderful!
The Ovation Singers and Orchestra (a local group) did an amazing performance! Olivia loved every moment of it. She especially loved the soprano solos, because the performing artist was her piano instructor, Lisa McQueen.
I was disappointed to see that we were one of the few attendees under the age of 60. I was even more disappointed to not see any children (unless I totally missed them).
Since I don’t have a clip of the Ovation Singers, I thought I’d post this clip of the Hallelujah Chorus…just beautiful!
I’ve always wanted to make a gingerbread house. It just seems so “Christmassy” for some reason. So last year, I bought a handy dandy gingerbread house kit on clearance for $2 and held it patiently until this year.
This was a family adventure. Dad constructed the building, with assistance and then we all decorated. It was very Norman Rockwell-ish, at first…
Notice the lovely gumdrop rooftop? You may want to keep an eye on it.
The finished project, from the front. Notice anything ODD about those gumdrops?
Here…maybe THIS angle will help you…
Or maybe, this?
Yeah, that side just didn’t want to stay in place. So we added more frosting, held it in place for a while, FIRMLY and tada! Yeah…again.
Frost, hold, repeat…and yet again. Finally after all patience and frosting was expended, we settled for this, a gingerbread house with a skylight…a large skylight.
Seriously, this is our finished project. The roof is FIRMLY cemented in place about an inch lower than the ridge line of the roof. But I’m ok with that…and so is Wheezy, the pig who will feasting on it next week.
I love learning about the Christmas celebrations in other countries. Last year we studied Spain, Germany, England and Russian during our Christmas Around the World week.
This year we decided to study the customs of Christmas in Luxembourg. We picked this country because our dear neighbor Ms. Kay is a native of Luxembourg and we wanted to learn more about and from her!
Like so many European countries, Luxembourg celebrates St. Nicholas Day on December 6. So the girls and I made a little surprise for Ms. Kay. We made her some lemon/poppy seed scones, and filled a basket with various Christmas teas, and ginger honey and German chocolates and delivered it to her on St. Nicholas Day. We made a St. Nicholas Day card for her using the coloring sheets we found here.
Books we used:
Luxembourg; by Rae Simons
Belgium & Luxembourg; DK Eyewitness Travel
Luxembourg; by Emilie U. Lepthien
A Christmas Companion; by Maria Robbins & Jim Charlton
Christmas Around the World; by Emily Kelley
In other news, we worked on math, reading, writing and Latin this week. Nothing major in any of those areas, just covering the basics. We also finished up Awana and piano until after the first of the year.
In ballet news, the Nutcracker was AWESOME! Olivia had so much fun and it was amazing to see how confident she is on stage. I have to admit, it was a tiring week for everyone, including me, but SO worth it. You can read all about it here.
Activity Day: This week was our monthly activity day meeting. However, we also had our first significant snowfall of the year everything has closed and cancelled.
We will be taking the next two weeks off from “formal learning”. I’ll be spending that time researching curriculum and making final choices for next year. I’m sure I’ll be posting about something during that time, so check back often!
In the meantime, don’t forget to visit the Weekly Wrap Up!
My husband and his coworkers were discussing Christmas traditions this past week. Most of his coworkers said they had one or two traditions. The spouse isn’t particularly quick thinking when put on the spot, and drew a blank about what we do. I’m hoping it’s just a brain freeze and that it really DOES mean something to him. So anyway, I thought I’d share our traditions with my wonderful readers. If you happen to see my hubby, you can remind him of these things (grins).
Operation Christmas Child: We do at least two shoe boxes for the Operation Christmas Child project. We start shopping for items the day after Christmas and slowly fill our boxes up during the year, then come November, all we do is pack and ship.
Christmas ornaments: Each year I search for a special ornament for each girl, commemorating something special that happened in their lives that year. By the time they are grown, they’ll have a lovely box or ornaments and memories to take to their own trees.
Ringing the bell: We sign up as a family to ring the collection bell for the Salvation Army. Sometimes we do several outings. Last year there was a blizzard on our day…so we missed a year. I know this is a regional thing…but here it doesn’t seem like Christmas without having those little red kettles out, and having people standing out in the freezing winter air ringing that little bell.
Food: Fudge, peanut butter balls and potato candy are a MUST each year. We also make sugar cookies, chocolate chip, peanut butter blossoms, gingersnaps and no bake oatmeal cookies. I send a platter in to the husbands job; and the mailman gets a package, and the garbage guys too. We also are elves to a couple of neighbors and friends.
Christmas lights: At least once during the season we all pile into the van with our hot cocoa and cookies and drive around looking at Christmas lights. There are some stunning displays in our town…and some that put the Griswald’s to shame!
Birthday cake: On Christmas Eve, the girls and I bake Jesus a birthday cake. The first year we did it, Olivia was 6 months old and we ended up with a foot in the middle of the poor cake, but I’m sure Jesus got a chuckle out of it.
Candle light service: My in-laws’ church has a Christmas Even candle light service. We typically go to their house early in the day for dinner and gifts and then hit the candle light service on the way home.
Eggnog French toast: Yes, seriously. I found this recipe the first year we were married, and we have it every Christmas morning. French bread dipped in eggnog and fried, then covered with warm cherry pie filling and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Yummo!
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
This is the first ballet I’ve ever attended. Saturday night we watched the show, Sunday afternoon I worked backstage. Let me tell you, backstage is HARD work!
The production was WONDERFUL! I’ve been told that it rivals professional shows. The guest artist was Jurijs Safonovs. He is such a wonderful dancer, and so pleasant to work with.
Olivia had a wonderful time in her first year of The Nutcracker. It was so much fun watching her excitement build. But what I loved was her level of confidence.
Here are a few photos from backstage today. Aren’t they adorable? Olivia’s solute in the last photo was impromptu on her part, and way cute.
My daughter, the clown:
Lindsey is now super excited about next year. She has grand plans for being a Gingersnap….but I think she’s going to miss the age cut off for auditions. Olivia is already planning out the next few years worth of roles as well.
This week was stage week leading up to the production of the Nutcracker on Saturday and Sunday. Olivia logged 13 hours of stage practices this week alone. I can’t wait to see the show on Saturday night!
Since I knew the week would be packed with practices, I planned a light school load this week. Although, it still seems to have been rather involved. We also finished up our third grading period, so we’re over halfway through our year already!
Math: Olivia was introduced to Roman numerals, multiplication and 3-2 digit number addition problems this week. So we had some glazing over…we’ll attribute it to fatigue and hope next week is better. Lindsey worked on ordinal numbers and counting by fives.
First Language Lessons: We worked on the seasons, months of each season and month abbreviations.
History/Geography: This week we tackled Kentucky. Both girls are big fans of Abraham Lincoln and Daniel Boone, so those were our two famous folks for this study. The girls are in the process of memorizing the Gettysburg Address. We completed our state report, fact sheet, map, coin sheet, collage, 2-page coloring book layouts and did lots of reading.
Books and videos we used:
Abe Lincoln Remembers; by Ann Turner
Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance; by Frances Cavanah
Abraham Lincoln for Kids; by Janis Herbert
Abraham Lincoln, VHS
Daniel Boone; by Laurie Lawlor
Daniel Boone, His Own Story; by Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone and the Exploration of the Frontier; by Richard Kozar
Daniel Boone, DVD
Latin: We’ve moved onto week #2 of Christmas words.
Awana: This week we only did one verse per child. Both girls are ahead at this point, so no point in putting extra mental stress on an already crazy week!
Piano: Olivia is memorizing “Away in a Manger” and “Silent Night”. Doing a fine job on both of those pieces.
Christmas Around the World: This year we’re focusing on Luxembourg as our main country to study. So on December 6 we delivered a St. Nicholas Day surprise to our neighbor Ms. Kay. She burst into tears. Now THAT was priceless!
We started working on Christmas crafts this week. See photos and read more here. Because of the frigid temperatures, we also did our mid-year migration from our school room to the kitchen for lessons. We’ll return to our normal area after the spring thaw.
In addition to all the regular stuff, I had to whip up a few costumes and do a couple of photos for a PowerPoint Christmas program for our church. Here is Lindsey as Gabriel and Olivia as Mary.
I hope everyone else had a wonderful week. I can’t wait to tell you all about the Nutcracker next week. In the meantime, don’t forget to head over to the Weekly Wrap Up!
Jolanthe at No Ordinary Moments got all sappy this week as she decorated her tree. It’s amazing how ornaments from years past can bring back such vivid memories. So in an effort to share that sappiness, she’s decided to do “Christmas Ornament Show and Tell”. I love collecting ornaments, so indulge me as I share in a moment of sappy with her, and you!
This first ornament is probably the oldest one I have of my own. My older brother gave this little porcelain mouse bell to me when I was in first grade.
I love this ornament, first because it’s the Nativity and is what Christmas is all about. I also love it because it’s made of olive wood from Israel.
The little glass dog in a stocking was a gift from my Mom when I was young. The little gingerbread house has a spot in the bottom to insert a light, so all the windows light up and twinkle when the tree is plugged up.
Thomas’ aunt painted this lovely slate ornament for us our firs Christmas as a married couple. The little rocking chair on the left belonged to a deceased family member, so the little ornament helps keep her involved at Christmas.
Be sure to visit No Ordinary Moments to view everyone else’s linky.
