Tag: Christmas

Posted in Books, Family Adventures, In the Community

God Gave Us …

Posted on by Mrs. Malo

Sunday’s book (December 4th) was God Gave Us Christmas written by Lisa Tawn Bergern and illustrations by David Hohn.

I decided to put this book on a Sunday for two reasons: first its has a religious theme so it is a good book to read before going to church and Sunday school, and second we have more time on the weekend and the activity I had in mind  would take a bit longer.

First thing in the morning I read the book to the girls.  It is a story of a little bear who asks his Mamma:

“Who ‘vented Christmas? Was it Santa?”

Mamma answers that God was the one who invented Christmas, that “God gave us Christmas”.  The next day Little Cub asks to go find Santa but Mama suggests that instead they go to find God. I really like how Mama Bear doesn’t exclude Santa but instead says:

“Santa Claus reminds us about many good things like generosity and care.  But is is God and Jesus that we celebrate most come Christmas.  We always want to thank God for giving us Christmas.”

This makes it easier for children to follow without abandoning their young visions of what they know of Christmas.

Little Cub and Mama set out to look for signs of God – and that is just the task I gave Kaitlyn.  I gave her my little camera for the day and told her to take pictures of things that God gave us.  She took it to church, and Sunday School, and with us as we went to get our Christmas tree.  The pictures may have been different if we did it for a week instead of just a day but I still think she did an amazing job!

She put all of her pictures together to make a collage.  I helped her a bit with shaping her photos and with spelling but she did the rest herself.  In case you have trouble reading she came up with: stories, friends, nature, family, trees, home and us.

Posted in Books, Family Adventures

Letters for Santa

Posted on by Mrs. Malo

Today’s book (December 3rd) was It’s Christmas David! by David Shannon.

Eileen got this for Christmas last year when it was very appropriate  for her. This year it is VERY appropriate for Michael.  This was a great read for both of the girls.  Kaitlyn was able to read most of the words so it was fun for her to read it to us, and because of the limited text Eileen was great at helping us read the pictures.  A very cute Christmas picture book.

One of the scenes in the book is David sitting with Santa showing him his very long Christmas list.  I thought this would be a great lead in to the girls writing their Christmas letters to Santa.  We were going to decorate paper for our letters but Kailtyn really wanted to do hers all by herself and I thought lined paper would be a big help.  I found some free printable snowman lined paper that was perfect.  I sat with Kaitlyn and wrote her letter as she dictated it to me, and I helped Kaitlyn with a few words (spellings).   I gave them some Christmas stickers we have to decorate their pages and envelopes.

Fortunately there were no surprises for Mommy and all of the items they asked for were the same they told Santa 2 weeks ago when we did our pictures.  It was tough getting Eileen to add anything other than what she wanted for Christmas but eventually I convinced her to add that we would leave Santa cookies, even though I think she only added it thinking she might get to eat some.  Kaitlyn was much easier and was very thoughtful and methodical with her letter.

We will drop them in the mailbox on our way to church tomorrow and hopefully will get a letter back from Santa before Christmas!

Posted in Books, Craft Thursdays

Reindeer Rebellion

Posted on by Mrs. Malo

Our book for December second was The Great Reindeer Rebellion.

This is a cute book I picked up on the discount shelf at Coles/Chapters.  From an adult perspective, and in light of all the labour unrest that has happened in the past year it is nice to see that there are some employees that just can’t be replaced – Santa’s Reindeer!  This story is written in rhyming verse and sounds similar to the traditional Night before Christmas.  There are a few times the rhymes could be more creative (up & up) but overall it is very nice to read aloud and easy language for kids.

We had Gord’s staff party so Gramma and Grampa watched the kids and did a reindeer craft with them, and after seeing what they came up with I am very happy I gave them this task!  They found an outline for Birch Branch Reindeer and adapted it for the kids.  First my dad went out to the field behind their house to find some appropriate wood.  They wanted to make small reindeer so he found the appropriate size branch but you could go larger to make a reindeer that could stand beside your fireplace.  He cut a body and head for each of the girls and then found twigs for legs and antlers.  He prepared them by drilling the appropriate sized holes for the legs and antlers.  They did suggest to me that if I was to do this again to cut them a few days in advance so the wood could dry out a bit easier, this would make it easier to stick together.  Dad also said you need to be careful where you drill the holes for the legs so your reindeer can stand easily and doesn’t do the splits!

With the girls they first glued on the legs and antler and then added the embellishments.  They added googly eyes and used pom poms for the nose and tail.  Mom found some gymp coring in my craft bin and used it to put the bell around the neck.  Kaitlyn decided she was going to make Rudolph’s girlfriend Clarice so she added a pink bow.  I think they turned out super cute!