Christmas Spirit

I’m updating my Christmas spirit status as improved. Since my bah-humbug post I have…

• Made cinnamon applesauce ornaments (largely without the help of children, which may earn me a bad mommy award)
• Made bags of stovetop simmering potpourri as gifts for tutors and friends
• Made bags of kettle corn for our book club goodie exchange (and enjoyed an evening with friends, celebrating 9 years of ChocLit Guild!)
• Made a loaf of cranberry orange bread
• Received a gorgeous greenery wreath from my most awesome best friend
• Received a lovely white poinsettia from another friend
• Bought a perfect, small noble Christmas tree
• Pulled many of our Christmas decorations out of the attic and put them up; decorated the tree
• Lit candles on the Advent wreath the boys made in Sunday school
• Read our favorite Advent book
• Sung Christmas songs at the piano with the boys
• Visited the Sea of Lights event at the Oregon Coast Aquarium
• Visited our local Christmas Storybook Land
• Attended my niece’s spectacular choir concert in a gorgeous church with intricate stained glass windows and a pipe organ
• Attended the Carols by Candlelight concert at a local church with my family
• Made frosted sugar cookie bars (that tasted funny, but we ate them all anyway)
• Celebrated St. Nicholas Day (belatedly) with our best friends (with our traditional marzipan making, pizza, chocolate coins, and a new story book)
• Watched cheesy yet delightful Christmas movies
• Bought a few Christmas gifts

I still have a bunch of homeschooling posts on the to-do list, including sharing about The Two Andrews in Portland, which was an incredible experience and like breath to my soul.

I also have some ideas percolating about a homeschool open house in January here at Mt. Hope for local friends/readers. Would anyone be interested in something like that? We could hang out in the studio and share homeschooling stories, ideas, and resources.

We had our carpets cleaned today, and now my house is torn apart. There’s nothing like having to clear the floors to be reminded just how little space we live in and how much junk we have and how disgustingly dirty it all is. Bleh. I’m trying to decide what to do with everything that is piled up in my front room. Throw it all out? Throw it in the attic? Go through a purging/organizing/deep cleaning spree in all my spare time? I’ll probably do what I always do. Stack it back up in every available corner. Ha!

My sister is having her baby by December 20th at the latest. I’m so stinkin’ excited!! Y’all are going to get sick of baby pictures again!

We still have a few Christmas events and activities to enjoy before Christmas Day arrives…

How is your Christmas season going? Are you full of Christmas cheer or struggling this year?

A Blast From the Past ~ Girls’ Weekend

I was going through photos from this past year and realized I had never posted these of our girls’ weekend all the way back in March! In fact, some of these photos are from two years before that (which I had not posted, either). In the spirit of ‘now or never,’ here are some fun, non-chronological, un-Christmas-y pictures of the four of us (Mom, Shannon, Holly, and me) living it up in Portland.

Christmas Storybook Land

The boys took off as soon as we arrived, and I followed Lola around. We met up with our friends from the charter school, and we all had the place mostly to ourselves. It was wonderful!

Luke was the only one willing to sit on Santa’s lap. He NEVER turns down an opportunity to ask for gifts.

And, drumroll please, I actually got in a picture:

Countdown to Les Miserables

Have you read the book? Watched the Broadway musical? Listened to the music?

Les Miserables is a fantastic story about the power of redemption. Do not miss it.

If you aren’t familiar with the story and would like to prepare yourself in anticipation of the movie releasing on December 25th, I have a few suggestions. Read the book is an obvious suggestion. {grin} I will say that the completely unabridged version is a rough book to get through. Victor Hugo goes on for pages and pages (sometimes chapters) about things (the life of a Bishop, life in a convent, politics and war) that are somewhat related as background information or side stories but unnecessary to the plot or the pivotal characters. (Just as fair warning.) Because of the side stories and details as well as a complex plot, it can be helpful to have an idea of the main characters and plot before diving into the original story. 

If you want a great taste of the Broadway musical without attending a performance, the 10th Anniversary Concert is spectacular. It is available on DVD, but thanks to the wonder of YouTube, you can watch it with one click of the mouse:

The above concert will give you an idea of what ages the movie might be appropriate for.

For a superb, family-friendly Les Miserables experience, I highly recommend Les Miserables Radio Theatre production by Focus on the Family. It is an abridged, full cast audio drama that my boys think is riveting.

In fact, I highly recommend all of the Focus on the Family radio theater productions. The Chronicles of Narnia production is spectacular. At 22 hours of listening pleasure (including an original orchestral score), the series is well-represented. Ben Hur is another family favorite.

Less Than Two Weeks!!

Our Current Reading and Listening Pleasure

Dickens for Christmas. Yes, please.

At the library I recently found a little treasure for our book bag: Charles Dickens: Scenes from an Extraordinary Life by Mick Manning. It fits in perfectly alongside our Christmas repertoire.

I’ve said it before, but I do love great biographical picture books. And I love mixing biographies in with great literature selections for the younger crowd. When it comes to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, we have a couple favorite retellings.

Have you listened to the audio stories by Jim Weiss? We have most of them (the result of collecting for years) and A Christmas Carol and Other Favorites (includes The Gift of the Magi, and Dick Spindler’s Family Christmas) is a fun one. I love being able to listen to the stories as we are running errands or heading out for activities.

We have several of the Eyewitness Classics collection. The Dorling Kindersley books have such a wealth of background and supplemental information. They make the stories come alive.

Eyewitness Classics: Christmas Carol is an excellent introduction to the story for younger children, complete with historical information about life in London in 1843. It has beautiful illustrations and photographs.

For Leif (my stubborn son who only wants to read Magic Tree House books) we have Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #22: Rags and Riches: Kids in the Time of Charles Dickens: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #44: A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time because, when it comes to books, I always try to have something to please everyone!

Sea of Lights

We attended the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Sea of Lights event on Friday evening. It was a dark and stormy night to be driving over to Newport, but the kids were great sports and we arrived safely. We met up with friends and enjoyed our stay whole-heartedly. There were lights, special music, and a great new play area for the kids.

I love the blur on that last shot. It is authentically what it is like to take Lola somewhere. All a blur. {grin}

We headed back home in the dark, wet, late night, eating fudge and singing Christmas songs together the whole way. It was lovely. Just lovely.