Wrapping Up the Holidays

Two Special Traditions

I love so many things about the holidays that they always go by too quickly for me. This year, I didn’t even get my cards sent till after New Year’s and I’m still trying to plan a day for the last of my holiday baking. (At this point I think I should just put away the Christmas cookie cutters and get out the Valentine hearts!) Putting away the decorations is always a little sad and the living room always looks a little lonely for the first days after the tree is gone. We’ve adopted two traditions to make the end of the holiday season a little more bearable.

Define “Over”

For some, the tree is out on the curb the day after Christmas as they breathe sighs of relief that the radio station has returned to its regular play-list. Many continue to indulge in holiday celebrations through New Year’s, often starting the new year by cleaning up holiday messes or resolving to lose those holiday pounds. Some of us aren’t ready to bid the joy of the holidays farewell on the first, so we decided to choose a more historical date to mark the end of our season: January 6, or Epiphany. Traditionally celebrated to commemorate the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem, Epiphany is significant in the symbolism of holiday gift-giving.


A Gift from the Heart

I received a copy of The King’s Christmas List, by Eldon Johnson, to review courtesy of Booksneeze. Emma is a little girl who finds herself magically transported with her dog on a magical adventure to a birthday party for the King. They take along a Christmas cake as a present, but before they reach the party, they meet fellow travelers in need. Emma shares not only her cake, but her warm cape and her treasured teddy bear. Arriving at the party empty handed, Emma and her dog are surprised that the guests exchange gifts with one another. The King explains that while many people show their love at Christmas by giving one another gifts, some have forgotten that he, too, wishes for a gift from the heart. When Emma begins to apologize for arriving without a gift, the King reveals that the families she met along the way are in fact his angels, and that her kindness has demonstrated the true spirit of gift-giving to his people. The King proclaims that any gift to the needy is a gift to Him, and the final page of the book has suggestions for charitable gifts as well as a link to explore gift and prayer connections at TheKingsAdventure.com. The symbolism and allegory is quite transparent to the adult reader, but is potentially useful to make the cognitive concepts of charity and gift-giving more understandable for little ones. The generosity and self-sacrifice demonstrated by Emma are traits we could all learn from, but Emma makes it seem easy. The text is a little self-aware (pointing out Emma’s surprise that her dog can suddenly talk with her) but generally smooth and appropriate for preschoolers or younger elementary children. Expressions in the illustrations are cartoonish, but the details and colors are rich. I decided to revisit the book in honor of Epiphany as we talked about the gifts bestowed upon Jesus. We decided to pass on some of our good fortune and make a gift to the needy by sorting through some outgrown clothes and unused toys for a donation.


Saving a Little Christmas

Our second tradition was inspired by a book discovered at our library, The Tree that Came to Stay, by Anna Quindlen. Immediately appealing to my fondness for Christmas tree decorating, I was even more engaged by the heartwarming way the family in the story manages to hold on to the warm Christmas feelings even as they deposit the drying tree on the snowy curbside. The story begins with the family’s selection of the tree, describes careful decorating, and briefly captures the glow of Christmas morning. The emphasis of the story comes after Christmas, as the decorations are removed and each member of the family feels a twinge of sadness seeing the tree stripped down and prepared for disposal. The resourceful mother devises a way to bolster spirits and create a Christmas keepsake: she collects dried needles from the tree in a basket. Decorated with Christmas ribbons, the basket is kept all year as a fragrant reminder of their happy Christmas memories. B and I decided a basket of Christmas sounded like a brilliant idea, so we’ve already collected our needles and now just have to find a place to keep them safely out of T’s way.

I allowed myself a holiday break, but I hope I still have some faithful readers with some book suggestions to link-up and share! I’ll also be linking up at Read.Explore.Learn with JDaniel4’s mom to spread the word that Feed Me Books Friday is back and meet some new friends!

If you have ideas to make Christmas clean-up a little more fun, I’d love to hear about them!



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received The King’s Christmas List free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

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Feed Me Books Friday: Faith and Fine Motor

An Early Present

I am adamant that B and T learn that not every outing or shopping trip means a treat for them. I avoid promising toys or special purchases in exchange for good behavior. Usually. But books are my weakness! This week while looking for a couple of gifts at the bookstore, I told B that if he was a helpful and patient shopper he could pick out a new Christmas book. I was almost as excited as he was when it came time to peruse the titles and pick out his reward.

“Building” a Better Understanding

B loved handling all the new books and considering his choices, but as soon as I mentioned that one book included “39 pieces to build your own nativity scene,” he was sold. We brought home Snappy Builder Nativity. The story of the nativity is told in kid-friendly text that uses simple language in engaging rhymes. At the back of the book, 3 cardboard panels fold out to reveal the brightly colored pieces used to assemble the scene. Several pieces are used to complete the manger, which is flanked by a palm tree as well as a star and angel overhead. The rest of the pieces are the animals and people and their accompanying stands. The sturdiness and size of the pieces was just right for B’s dexterity; younger children would need considerably more help to avoid damaging the pieces. Once all the assembly was complete, B could enact the story with his figures as we read, which not only kept his fingers occupied, but deepened his understanding of the story as well. This is one impulse-buy I have no regrets about.

Appropriate for: preschoolers, primary grades.

Do you have any special books you enjoy with your children in preparation for the holidays? Hope you’ll share in the comments or link-up!


 

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Bedtime Battles

Close Your Eyes. But I’m Not Tired…

We’ve been challenged at bedtime more often than usual in the last couple weeks. B is insistent that he isn’t tired, while his behavior is evidence to the contrary. It’s hard to stay mad at his stalling behavior when he asks a question like, “How do you fall asleep when your mind is awake?” Then I realize, we all have these moments – when our body is exhausted but our mind is racing. Hard to guess what he’s thinking about: What he learned in preschool today? The book we read before bed? Santa? Whatever it is, he needs a tool to tune it out. While my initial, burning eyelids, frustration-laden response was to tell him to count sheep, I reconsidered and thought better of it.


Soothing and Satisfying

Instead of a curt and annoyed directive to quiet down and sleep, I retrieved one of our favorites from bedtimes past from the bookshelf and gave both of us a refresher. Count Yourself to Sleep, by Lynn Hodges and Sue Buchanan is a lovely story told in verse of how a little otter settles down to sleep. Little ones are encouraged to “count yourself to sleep,” but not by counting sheep. Instead, they are encouraged to, “Count your good and perfect gifts, they all come from God.” The little otter provides some examples of things he is grateful for, which run the gamut from chocolate pudding to sunshine to Daddy’s lap, affirming for readers that there are no wrong answers. Just as I have been trying to commit to my gratitude journal each night, counting blessings is an ideal way to both settle down and foster a sense of satisfaction and content. Our board book version of this title also includes a CD with the text set to music, and once you learn the song, you won’t need to the book each night to remind you.


Helping our children learn to problem-solve gives them opportunities for cognitive development. Helping them establish a focus on gratitude and content not only promotes emotional development, but makes bedtime a little easier, too!


Appropriate for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, everyone!


Hope you’ll share your strategies for bedtime stallers in the comments and any books you’ve enjoyed recently in a link!

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Must See Monday #3

Weekends are catch-up time for me: I catch up on my writing, I catch up on my laundry, I catch up with my husband, and if I have any time left over, I catch up on all the fabulous posts that accumulate in my reader during the week. Every week I find awesome crafts, fun books, and super giveaways! This weekend kept me pretty busy, so I'm sad to admit I'm more behind in my reader than I'd like to be, but here's what I found so far...

Enjoy!

Crafts:
Still thinking about handmaking some holiday gifts? Check out this list of tutorials at Oh Amanda.
Needing some holiday smell in your home? Check out these cinnamon ornaments from Little Page Turners.
Need an indoor activity to keep your little ones busy on cold or wet days? Print out this village from Tip Junkie printables for fun assembly and pretend play!

Ideas/Recommendations:
I need to just say that I love just about everything Christie posts about at Childhood 101. You'll probably find a link there in my list most weeks. This week, she shares ideas for creating family memories during the holidays.
Wanting to share more than just your own local or cultural holiday traditions with your child? Check out the resources at ABC and 123 for Christmas around the world.
Looking for some small, simple gifts for stockings or Hannukah? Check out these game suggestions from Let's Explore.

I didn't enter any giveaways this week - too busy! :( Hope I'll still find some good ones next week.

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Feed Me Books Friday: Sorting out the Holidays

What’s in the Mail Today?


We got our first Christmas cards this week, which was exciting for both B and me. While I love the efficiency, ease, and convenience of email, facebook, and texts, there is something special about getting a handwritten message delivered by the mail carrier. Christmas cards and vacation postcards are my favorite. I’m a notorious procrastinator, but these early cards, along with some recent posts by some of my favorite mom-bloggers, got me motivated to start working on mine. I’ll be sharing the result next week, but for now, I wanted to share what I’m doing to keep B busy while I work.
Busy Fingers

I enlisted B’s help for some of the card design (which you’ll see more of next week). But after his artistic input I needed a little work time to make it come together, so I got out some supplies for him to create some cards of his own. To keep him motivated, I made the recipient list totally up to him. It included some neighbors, some family, and some friends from preschool. He’s more freestyle than fill-in-the-blanks, so with some colored paper, markers, and glitter glue, he was ready to go. What was important to him was authenticity, which meant he needed envelopes, stamps, and addresses. I save the reply envelopes from various junk mail solicitations and bills I pay online along with blank or nearly blank envelopes from greeting cards or thank you note sets. He recycles them in his correspondence play. I also made up some stamp glue from a recipe at DLTK. I printed out a page of thumbnail size holiday clip-art, painted on the glue, and did the cutting for B so he wouldn’t end up with sticky fingers. He was happily productive (and so was I, thanks to a nap from T)! Then he remembered he needed addresses…

Who gets What?

B has expressed a lot of curiosity lately about addresses, phone numbers, and why our keys don’t open just any door. It’s the kind of curiosity I love to capitalize on for teaching rather than drilling out of context. He’s almost mastered our address, but phone numbers are still a little tricky. Children who learn their home address and phone number not only achieve an important safety skill, but it is also an marker of a preschooler’s social development when he can understand that he is a part of his city or town with a distinct place, or address, within that group. To capitalize on that curiosity and reinforce his understanding of the postal process, we read The Silly Christmas Card Mix-Up, by Suzy-jane Tanner. Reindeer sends cards to all his friends, but forgets the addresses, and they get all mixed up! His animal friends use clues in the cards to sort-out the delivery and get each greeting to the correct recipient. Flaps on each page allow children to participate in the story and help the animals “open” the cards. Once we read the book, we talked about the kind of information necessary for B’s envelopes. For some, simply writing the name of the person we would hand it to was sufficient. For others, that were going to the post office, we talked about why an address is important.

Appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers.

Are you preparing for holidays or family traditions? Are books a part of the plan? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments or read about them in your links!
[photo courtesy "sidehike" on flickr]


Also wanted to mention I'm being featured this Friday at ABC and 123! If you're not already a follower, you'll love all the great learning ideas shared at this cooperative! Stop by if you have a chance and leave a little comment love for me there!

Due to some computer/internet issues, my post is waiting happily on a computer where I can't get to it, I'll update with my book for the week as soon as I can, but in the meantime I wanted to get the linky up for those who are participating this week. FINALLY FIXED!!!

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