A Family Tradition

Part of our love of Christmas is the special way that we celebrate with our family. We were so lucky today to have a parent bring in a yummy snack that is part of their Christmas tradition. It was a delicious yule log to mark the winter solstice and make wishes for the coming year. You can see evergreens and a beautiful bird to remind us of the season of winter. The tradition is for the family to light the candle, make their wishes and blow it out. You can see from these pictures that we really loved helping with this.
It was a delicious snack. You can all appreciate that we use our manners in our classroom and if we don't like our snack we say, "I don't care for it." Well some of us said that BUT some of us said, "I care for it a lot." Thanks so much to our mom that shared this wonderful tradition with us today. It made our day so special. (PS - The rule about the wish is that you don't say it out loud and can you believe that we really followed this rule? Who knows what wonderful thoughts went out today from our cozy little classroom?)

It Is Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Now it is feeling more like Christmas. The Thanksgiving decorations are carefully stored away and we are decorating for the arrival of Baby Jesus and His friend, Santa. Today we explored the Christmas trees in the narthex of the church. They are so beautifully adorned with Chrismons that tell the story of Jesus' life here on Earth. You can see different types of crosses, and angels. It is so pretty and inspiring. Take a few minutes before or after our program on Thursday to enjoy this Christmas delight.

Sinterklaas?

Yes, today we learned about Christmas in the Netherlands and we had a visit from Sinterklaas. (If you are from South Carolina it sounds like "Santer Clauz.") You should have a found a cup full of treats in your child's bag. I can only imagine the stories that your children shared about this experience because we had to leave our shoes in the hallway for this visit to occur. (and man it was a cold day to try this in our usually warmer climate.) This is the tradition in the Netherlands - so we tried it out here and it actually worked. Happy Sinterklaas Day!

Another Visit From The Tooth Fairy

Today we had another friend missing a tooth. We are growing up so fast. Can you see the pride in his eyes? This was a big deal because it was one of the "garage doors" in the front.

"O Come Little Children"

Here is another song for Thursday night's program. Again, the video is not great but it is a chance to see them actually singing - rather than looking terrified in front of everyone. I can't thank my husband enough for figuring this out for me. I hope you enjoy this - it will definitely put you in the Christmas spirit. (It is best to watch this as a small screen. It gets really blurry when you move it to the full screen option.)

Our Christmas Song

This is one of our songs for the program. Please be patient as I am learning how this whole video to blog thing works. Many, many thanks to Mr. Jeff for figuring this out. The quality is not that great since I used my phone for the video - but never-the-less - the children are perfect. This is a preview of Thursday night - so make every effort to come and see this one for yourself. (The song was written by Eddie Arnold and we have shortened it a great deal for the four year olds.) (* It is best to watch this as a small screen. It gets really blurry when you move it to the full screen option.)

Another Grandparent

Here is another grandparent that stopped in to say, "Hi." We love our grandparents so much. There is a new class book that started on Thursday - G is for Grandparents, so watch your child's bag. This one is a classic.