Twas the Night Before Christmas

Every Christmas day we would pack up the car and head to Grandma's.  Grandpa always fixed something fancy for dinner (duck or veal with asparagus or something).  The table would be set, wine glasses for everyone (even the kids- but ours were filled with sprite).  The blessing would be said and the eating would begin.  There would always be a butterfluff roll eating contest between the cousins (I think my brother always won).  Then for dessert we would have figgy pudding.  We were always so excited about dessert but not to eat it, to watch Grandpa catch it on fire.  Lucky for us there would be something yummy for dessert too like ice cream and cookies!

After the dishes were washed and the kid's table put away it would be time to open up presents.  But before we could open up presents, my grandpa's good friend John had to read Twas the Night Before Christmas.  We would all sit at his feet and listen to the story in earnest, knowing that as soon as he finished presents would be passed out- one of my all time favorite traditions from when I was a child.  There is a video of John reading to us out there somewhere.  If I am able to find it I will update this post with it.

This is the end of my 12 Days of Christmas Read Alouds.  I hope you enjoyed it and maybe found a new book or two to read.  I look forward to sharing with you all the great books Santa will bring us tomorrow night!

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!

Laura

Gifts

We all do it, look everywhere for the perfect gift for the person we love the most in the world.  Have you ever thought about what you would give up in order to buy that person the perfect gift?  In The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry writes about the sacrifice made all in the name of love.

Christmas is tomorrow and Della wants to buy her husband, Jim, a wonderful present- the only problem is she only has $1.87. Della and her husband do not have much, a live only on $20 a week.  Their prized possessions are Della's long, beautiful hair and Jim's gold pocket watch.  Della knew she wanted to buy Jim a new chain for his watch and also knew the sacrifice she would have to make- selling her hair.

Della worried all evening about what Jim would think about her new look.  When he finally arrived home, "It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror," that he looked upon her with.  He simply looked.  Then when he handed Della her present to open, she saw it was hair combs, beautiful and expensive.  Della then handed her gift to Jim to open.  When he saw that it was the gold chain he said to his wife, "Let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while.  They're too nice to use just at present.  I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs..."

You see, both Jim and Della gave up their most prized possessions for one another. "But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest.  Of all who give and receive fits, such as are the wisest."

This Christmas season, do not forget the gifts of the Magi and the meaning of each gift that you give.

Have you ever given up your most prized possession for the one you love most?

Happy Reading!
Laura

Traditions

This is the time of year that almost everyone has traditions.  Whether it is baking cookies, shopping on Black Friday or eating Italian on Christmas Eve- traditions are fun and comforting. In Eve Bunting's The Night Tree we hear the beautiful story of a family's unique holiday tradition.

On Christmas Eve the family sets off in their car to Luke's Forest.  Once they are there the family finds "their" tree.  After noticing how the tree has grown, hearing an owl hoot and seeing a deer the family sets down their big box and gets to work.  Inside the box is all kinds of decorations for the tree, but not decorations ornaments, tinsel and other decorations typically used for Christmas trees.  This family has made all edible decorations, a Christmas meal for the animals.  There are popcorn chains, apples, oranges, sunflower seed balls, even nuts and acorns to scatter on the ground.  Once the tree is decorated the family sits on a blanket, drinking hot chocolate and singing songs.  Simply enjoying the time together in the quiet of nature.  You can tell it is a Christmas tradition that the family enjoys because the son says, "Later, in bed I think about our tree, and sometimes, next day, when the aunts and the uncles and the cousins are at our house and it's noisy and happy, I let my mind go back to Luke's Forest."

What a simple and unique Christmas tradition this family has.  Does your family have a unique Christmas tradition?

Even if you can't make it to the forest to decorate an entire tree, you could make some fun snacks to share with the animals in your backyard.

Materials
- peanut butter
- bird seed
- pine cone
- ribbon
- knife

Directions:
1) Tie a ribbon to the top of the pine cone.

2) Use the knife to spread the peanut butter on the pine cone, the more the better!

3) Roll or sprinkle the bird seed onto the peanut butter pine cone.

4) Hang from a tree branch and wait for the birds or squirrels to come for a snack!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Christmas Board Book

Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck is a great Christmas board book for infants and toddlers. The book features several of the main "players" in the Christmas story.  There is the star, several animals, the shepherds, the wise men, Mary and of course Baby Jesus.

Each "character" in the story of Christmas is accompanied by a short rhyme and a picture.  The rhymes are very to the point, which makes this book a perfect teaching tool for younger children about the reason for Christmas. One of the rhymes goes like this, "I am the baby asleep in the hay, and I am the reason for Christmas Day."

My little boy loves to read this book. He enjoys finding the shiny star displayed on different pages throughout the book.  We also like to play a "where is game?"  Basically I will say something like, "Where is Baby Jesus?" and he will flip through the pages until he finds what I asked for.

Is there a Christmas board book that you enjoy reading with your youngest readers?

Happy Reading!
Laura

It's Christmas David!

David, from No David! by David Shannon is a favorite of kids 5 and under everywhere.  He is always doing everything they want to do and getting in trouble for it.  

No David is making his Christmas debut.  In It's Christmas David! David is up to his antics again but this time Christmas-style.  David is caught stealing cookies, playing with ornaments, peeking at presents and waiting up for Santa.  All things I am sure our little ones are up to this holiday season.  

If you have a David in your house who loves to take ornaments off the tree, try making this felt tree.  They can take the ornaments on and off as many times as they want and not hurt a thing!

Materials:

- 1 yd. of green felt

- felt squares in multiple colors

- puffy paints or glitter glue

- scissors

- Scotch tape

Directions:

1) Using the green felt cut out a tree shape

2) Using the felt square cut out circles for ornaments

3) Cut out a star for the top

4) Decorate with glitter glue

5) Tape to the door using scotch tape

6) Have fun decorating your tree over and over!

Happy Reading!

Laura

The Grinch

The holiday season is not complete with out the classic rhyming of Dr. Seuss.  This year, instead of watching the TV special, try reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss aloud to your kids.

The Who's of Who-ville love Christmas, but the Grinch does not.  After years of having to hear and see Who-ville's wonderful Christmas cheer the Grinch decides to do something about it.  He dresses up as Santa, puts antlers on her dog Max and steals Who-ville's Christmas.  He takes every present, every ornament, every piece of tinsel, until there is nothing left.

The next morning the Grinch expects to hear the crying of all the Who's when they realize that Christmas has been ruined, but to his surprise he hears them singing.  The Who's know the true meaning of Christmas and come together as a community.  "Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!  What if Christmas, he though, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!" So the Grinch, "whose heart grew 3 sizes that day, " returned Christmas to Who-ville and is the guest of honor at the Christmas feast!

Children cannot get enough of the touching story of the Grinch, the reformed bully who turns out to love Christmas as much as the Who's.  It is easy to pop in the DVD and just show the kids the story, but this year make sure they know that movie came from a book written by one of the most beloved authors of all times.

Happy Reading!
Laura

Throwback Thursday- Christmas Style

With Christmas fast approaching I wanted to take some time to share the most important holiday read aloud- the Bible.  There are so many great stories about there about Christmas and the true meaning of Christmas, but we need to make sure that our children actually hear the true story of Christmas. 

Of the four gospels the only two that have the actual story of Jesus' birth are Matthew and Luke. Mark and John both tell the story of John the Baptist proselytizing about the coming of Jesus. I think you should choose whichever one you feel is best for your children, or maybe try reading all of them.  It would be great conversation comparing the different stories of Jesus' birth.  

With all the commercial and materialism surrounding Christmas now, we must stop and refocus ourselves and our children on what the real story of Christmas is.  Santa, his elves and reindeer are so fun to believe in and talk about but we MUST continue to believe in and talk about Jesus, his birth, his service and his sacrifice for us.  

My son is still pretty young but we have started a couple of traditions this year.  First we light our advent wreath at dinner time.  The wreath consists of 4 candles, one is lit each week of advent.  The light of the candles signify Christ and the prayer and preparation going on during this time of waiting. 

We also bought an advent calendar for our son.  He really enjoys adding a different character to the scene each day.  We talk briefly about the angels, wise men, shepherds or Mary and Joseph each day and emphasize that we are waiting for baby Jesus to get here.  Here is a picture of the one that we have.  It came from Fisher Price. 

What traditions do you have in your home to keep the Christmas focus on Christ?  

Happy Reading!

Laura

Holiday Drama

We all know that the holiday season is often filled with busy schedules, crazy to-do lists and drama, drama, drama.  Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney is the perfect read aloud for realizing we need to put all that other "stuff" aside and enjoy the people in our lives this Christmas season.

Llama LLama cannot wait for the holidays in this great story for little ones.  It features the rhythm and rhyming that all the other Llama Llama books have but with a holiday twist.  The holiday drama starts right off the bat with shopping, baking, making crafts, decorating and mostly waiting, waiting, waiting for the big day to get here. Llama can hardly handle it any longer, "All this waiting for one day?  Time for presents right away!" Just like so many other young children Llama Llama just wants Christmas to get here, and it is so hard to wait.  Mama has to take little Llama in her lap and explain to him that, "Sometimes we should take a rest and hold the ones we love the best.  Wishing, waiting wanting things... we forget what this time brings.  GIfts are nice, but there's another-the true gift is we have each other."

So, if you find yourself caught up in the "wishing, waiting, wanting things" take some time out to cuddle up with your little one and read!  What better way to spend time with the ones your love!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Polar Express

I cannot have the 12 Days of Christmas Read Alouds without the Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg.

Just in case you have not read the book or seen the movie I will give you a brief summary of the Polar Express.  A young boy sits awake on Christmas Eve listening for the bells of Santa's sleigh.  Instead of the bells he hears a train pull up in front of his house.  He quickly boards the train, heading for the North Pole.  Once the train arrives at the North Pole, Santa picks him to receive the first gift of Christmas.  The boy knows that he can choose anything he wants but he asks for a bell off of his sleigh.  Santa graciously gives the boy a bell and the boy puts the bell in his pocket.  Once the boy is back on the train he realizes the bell and fell out through a hole in his pocket.  Needless to say the boy is pretty bummed about his luck.

The next morning he is opening gifts with this family when his sister finds one last box under the tree.  The boy opens the box and finds the bell and a note from Santa.  He rings the bell and it makes the most beautiful sound he and his sister have ever heard.  His parents on the other hand could hear nothing.  The last line of the book is the best, "Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe."  I know I am silly but it give me chills every time I read it, maybe because I still truly believe!

So last year my school had Polar Express Day.  We wore pajamas to school, read the book, did all sorts of activities and ended the day by watching the movie.  The kids had a great time and I wanted to share with you a few of the things that we did that would work for you at home or in your classroom.

In First Grade they are learning to memorize double facts so we made Hot Chocolate Doubles.  All you need is the following worksheet, miniature marshmallows and glue!

It is also fun to make hot chocolate.  At school I used a crock-pot to heat the water (not too hot though) and let the kids add the mix to their own cup.  After we made and drank our hot chocolate we wrote "How to Make Hot Chocolate."

Here is a good tip for making plain hot chocolate mixes even yummier.  I do this when I am making hot chocolate at home:  use milk instead of water and add a teaspoon of sugar and a little bit of vanilla extract while the milk is heating.  Just those small additions make the hot chocolate so much better. 

Okay- last Polar Express idea for the day.  I cannot take credit for this one, I owe credit to one of my teacher friends.  I bought each of my students a small silver bell and the weekend before Polar Express day I wrapped them in tissue paper, put them in a big box and stuck them in the freezer so they got nice and cold.  The day of I added a note from Santa Claus, addressed the box and recruited someone from the office to "deliver" the package to our classroom.  When the box was opened to reveal cold bells straight from the North Pole my class was beyond excited.  They held onto those bells so tight and yelled out "Thank you Santa!" It was even better when watching the movie they all started ringing their bells and saying, "I Believe!" 

What fun Polar Express traditions do you have? How do you help others to "believe?"

Happy Reading!

Laura

12 Days of Christmas Read Alouds

Today's Christmas read aloud is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.

This is a great chapter book to read aloud to kids ages 7-10.  The chapters are a decent length so you could probably read aloud one chapter a day.  This book is all about a child finding the true meaning of Christmas through some very unlikely people.

The Herdmans are the bad kids in town.  There are a lot of them and they are constantly getting in trouble.  They bully other kids, start fires, lie, cheat and so much more.  Everyone is scared of them.  One day the Herdmans show up to church (they heard they could get free food) and all of the sudden they are the stars in the annual Christmas program.

The entire town is concerned and worried about the Herdmans being in the play, they are convinced that they will single handedly ruin the tradition.  The Herdmans don't even know the story of Christmas.  After telling them the story of Christmas and several practices it the night of the pageant.  The church is packed (mostly with people who want to see what type of shenanigans the Herdmans pull during the program) and it ends up being the best Christmas pageant ever.

You see, the Herdmans were like Mary and Joseph- poor and maybe a little disheveled.  They understood having to use whatever you can for a bed, Jesus used a manger and the Herdmans used a dresser drawer. They also brought a new perspective to the wise men and demonstrated how protective Mary would have been over Jesus.  The Herdmans showed the entire congregation that Christmas was about love, not about everyone looking pretty and perfect.

Here are a couple of quotes from the book that I thought were very fitting:

"After all, that was the whole point of Jesus- that he didn't come down on a cloud like something out of "Amazing Comics," but that he was born and lived... a real person." pg 82

"But Imogene, I guess, didn't see it that way.  Christmas just came over all at once, like a case of chills and fever.  And so she was crying and walking into the furniture." pg 88

Stage One in Louisville has just a few performances of the play.  I believe they are December 15 and 21 at 2 and 5 PM.  Stage One always puts on great performances so if you are looking for a show for your children I would recommend this one.  The theater is smaller so there is not a bad seat in the house and Stage One is geared directly to children and families.

Happy Reading!
Laura

12 Days of Christmas Read Alouds

I am so excited to start the 12 Days of Christmas Read Alouds.  Each weekday for the next 12 days I will share with you one of my favorite Christmas books for kids as well as some of our Christmas season traditions. 

We are going to start off with The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

We all know the story of A Christmas Carol.  Whether we have seen the play or one of the several movies, the story of Scrooge is all too familiar.  It took Scrooge meeting the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future to learn the true meaning of the spirit telling the ghost of Christmas future, "I will honor Christmas in my hear, and keep it all year." The lesson that Scrooge learns is one that we could all take to heart this time of year. 

The copy of the book that I have is illustrated by Brett Helquist and is a great copy to use with younger children.  The pictures on every page are amazing and will really help younger children with visualizing the story in their mind.  So if you are looking for a new Christmas tradition why not start with A Christmas Carol?  As a family you could read a part of the book each night and then when finished watch one of the movies, or even go to the play as a family.  I remember going to the play with my grandparents when they were still alive.  It was always something to look forward to. 

If you live in the Louisville area here is the schedule for  A Christmas Carol at Actor's Theatre.  It starts this weekend so you better get reading!

December 6- 7PM

December 7- 2PM and 7PM

December 8- 2PM

December 13- 7PM

December 14, 15 - 2PM and 7PM

December 17, 19, 20- 7PM

December 21, 22, 23- 2PM and 7PM

I would really love to hear about some of your favorite books and Holiday traditions that go along with the books.  Please feel free to share in the comments.

A Christmas Carol Trailer- staring Jim Carey

Happy Reading!

Laura