Seven :: Gifts

On the day of your birth
You were given gifts,
The seeds of your own will,
To sow upon the earth,
That through your work
The seeds might grow
Into a fruitful garden
Protected by the Tree of Life
Whose branches hold up heaven.

Now your roots grip solid ground,
Glad to be alive.
Your head bears a golden crown
Like the sun that lights the sky.
Your breath weaves in and out
Like the ocean tides,
As the fountain of your heart
Sings the song of life.

You crossed the rainbow bridge,
You left your heavenly home
To walk the green, fruitful earth
Beneath the starry dome.
You know this is the place
To give all your gifts away,
Scattering them like golden seeds
Unfolding every day.
Seed-deeds ripen beneath the sun
Rooted in fertile will
To become the Bread of Life
When the seeds are milled.

~William Ward :: The Waldorf Book of Poetry

Tulip Time :: April Clicks!

Do-It-Yourself Thieves Soap from Mountain Rose Herbs.
Covered button tutorial from Kate Davies Designs.
Living Under the Sky :: On time outside with children in Waldorf settings, practical considerations, and ideas for games and movement circles.
The History of Appalachian English :: Ancient phrases and their modern versions.  I especially enjoy the variation of "greaze."
A Changing Childhood or Changing Children? :: This has been on my mind a lot.
The Word-Hoard: Robert MacFarlane on Rewilding Our Language of Our Landscape :: I really enjoyed his book Landmarks and all the glossaries contained in its pages.  It's the best kind of geography.  I'm reading The Old Ways now.
The Camino Voyage :: Information about Glen Hansard's trip by traditional boat from Ireland to Spain.  I'm impressed!
Tiny Desk Concert: The Swell Season :: This is an older recording from NPR, but I really love most anything Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova do.
Nettle Cake :: This cake looks like it is covered in moss.  What could be better?
Waldorf and Minimalist :: Interesting thoughts here.  I certainly have a lot to think about for the future.

And with that, more April showers are in the air, clearing out a little later.  Rain and mist and fog are the way of it lately.  I've got lots of things to do today, as old things wrap up and new ones begin.  The joy in my heart is so profound.

A Song from the Suds

Queen of my tub, I merrily sing,
While the white foam raises high,
And sturdily wash, and rinse, and wring,
And fasten the clothes to dry;
Then out in the free fresh air they swing,
Under the sunny sky.

 I wish we could wash from our hearts and our souls
The stains of the week away,
And let water and air by their magic make
Ourselves as pure as they;
Then on the earth there would be indeed
A glorious washing day!

Along the path of a useful life
Will heart's-ease ever bloom;
 The busy mind has no time to think
Of sorrow, or care, or gloom;
And anxious thoughts may be swept away
As we busily wield a broom.

 I am glad a task to me is given
To labor at day by day;
For it brings me health, and strength, and hope,
And I cheerfully learn to say- 
'Head, you may think; heart, you may feel;
But hand, you shall work always!'

~Louisa May Alcott, as taken from The Waldorf Book of Poetry

Supporting Self-Directed Play

The past week has brought a transformation here, both as we have checked off some big tasks and as the children's moods have shifted in a big way.  After supper last night, they involved themselves in extended train play, with tokens to pass between stations, an infirmary, and office workers.  The transitions between all those things were largely seamless, disputes were handled good-naturedly, and the coming of bedtime song was met happily.  It was amazing.

I wanted to elaborate more on self-directed play, especially since I have seen such an improvement in this area.  With my children being the center of my efforts, I have been free to begin to shape things around their needs and mine.  This is very freeing for all of us.  Furniture has been moved, added, removed, and so on.  Feeling so crowded previously, it is so nice to have some space and flexibility.  I have chosen to go back to a kindergarten mood, with a corner to be quiet (or have sheep) in, more house play, more vehicle play, more everything play.



The weather has cooperated by being cold and wet, so time inside has been quite welcome.  The children all took turns at their own pillow houses, as they called them, sometimes sharing and sometimes not.  There was some possessiveness over these houses, but each owner still felt it was nice for them to have them for a time.  Willow's house is below.  Just as I had lost hope in her "good ole days" of play, she has surprised me.  I had a feeling she needed some of that familiar activity, in addition to her time spent on higher pursuits, like Nancy Drew and piano.  Perhaps, through healthy play, she is freed from the feeling of being the oldest?  I am interested to see how things go.

I really wanted to share more about Supporting Self-Directed Play.  I found the book to be immeasurably helpful in a home setting with multiple children.  I've read nearly all the Waldorf titles and scoured the Online Waldorf Library, and this is the best resource I've found.  It discusses the kinds of self-directed play children engage in (mandalas!), gives numerous accounts from teachers, and provides many helpful photos.  There are pictures that are very familiar to me!  It also gives charts with differences between children who are well engaged in their self-directed play and those who are struggling. 

Time and again, in my parenting journey, I've found that there is not some magic spell that changes everything.  And yet, there are moments when everything changes.  What has shifted?  Has the world suddenly become easy?  Not in the least!  I have simply looked at the same thing with renewed eyes or returned to something that was allowed to fade away.   Often, it is my own change of heart that allows things to get past a sticky spot and move on a more even keel.  This book stresses that the inner life of the teacher matters greatly.

I wanted to share a short list of books that I think are essential to understanding children's play, in addition to Supporting Self-Directed Play:

• Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke :: This book discusses the stages in play between birth and seven, along with recommended playthings for each age range.  It includes instructions for Waldorf dolls, play stands, knitted cords, bunting beds, wooden toys, silk marionettes, and the very open-ended toys seen in kindergartens.  
• Children at Play by Heidi Britz-Crecelius :: Consider this a history of play.  The author collected numerous first-hand experiences, along with those from literature, of how children played up to the age of ten or so.  All age ranges are discussed, with particular interest in older children who were able to have "free-range" experiences.  It includes "The Day We Flew the Kites," a personal favorite of mine.
• Spindrift from Wynstones :: This is part of a seasonal collection that I really love, but this book stands out as a good all-around resource.  It has verses for work and play, songs in the pentatonic scale, and a large number of stories from around the world.  The children enjoy hearing them time and again.  I include it because I think it can inspire everyday work to be more playful, and it can provide material for circle times and read-alouds.
• Work and Play in Early Childhood by Freya Jaffke :: I guess you can figure that I like what she has to say, and I appreciate the wisdom of older Waldorf teachers.  This book offers more detail on how children play, with color photos and suggestions for inner work for teachers.  I enjoy books with photos, because I like my children to see how other children play and work in a similar setting. 

Lastly, I'd like to include some videos that show children at play in Waldorf Early Childhood settings: 

• Sophia's Hearth :: Numerous seasonal videos, teacher training.
• Escuela Waldorf Alicante :: 3 to 6 year olds, 1 to 3 year olds, and daily work. 
• WECAN :: A series of six videos with scenes of play and reflections from parents and teachers.

It's time for me to get on with other work, though you can tell that I am so pleased to be writing about this topic and our improvements. I wanted to share a few final thoughts.  Things have been messier, the best kind of messes-- the kind that are alive and energetic, calm and thoughtful.  I thought this quote from Supporting Self-Directed Play really captured what the children are doing when they play:

We have built the whole world.

Easter Things and Self-Directed Play

The weekend was so difficult for me, truly, that I hardly knew what to do.  The unexpected grief that comes up at unpredictable times is baffling.  I do not miss my old life, and I have all that I need here, but there are such feelings of despair that well up.  I was just so sad, in the midst of what should have been joy.  And then yesterday--yesterday it was mostly gone!  I was productive and present and feeling much better.  I guess that is the way it goes.

The children have been doing the same, I venture to guess.  There are times of relief, of seeing that what is new is also good, and there are dark times where they are plumbing their own depths.  And how funny (and appropriate!) it is that divorce is mentioned when you do a grammar check on that phrase!  Equilibrium takes wider swings these days, but we are seeing it.

Self-directed play has improved, as you can see from the birthday party Laurel threw for Healing Mouse.  The wee mouse is at the center on the swing.  He lives in the doctor kit and Willow helped to make him.  I got a book in the mail on the topic of this kind of play and the photos themselves are a wonderful inspiration.  The children photographed have made wonderful creations--the best kind of "messes."  They are masterpieces, really.

Play has been disjointed here for a couple years.  I used to take such pride and wonder at how creative the children would be, but then it crumbled as various stresses reached boiling points.  We had difficult neighbors, the traveling job saw more travel, we became last place.  It feels so piercing to write that that last one, but it is true.  This situation did not arise out of arguments, but out of a silent dysfunction of which we only knew the surface.

My hope is that things will only continue to improve, as they should.  We have a few more humps to get over in the coming weeks, and then I dream of Summer.  Imagine that!  Dreaming of Summer!  It will be hard-won, for sure, and I cannot help but feel or wish that something really good and boring is coming our way.  May there be many more hours of self-directed play.  That simple thing would bring such gladness!

The People of the Pueblo

We've wrapped up our second block on Native Americans, and the children say that this has been their favorite subject of the year.  While many folks recommend combining blocks for multiple grades, I didn't plan things that way.  I figured we would all learn together, for the most part, and there would be review and new things for everyone.  Willow can't keep herself away from the Four Friends plays we've been doing, and Roan really loves the stories Willow gets to hear.



These have been, thankfully, pretty simple blocks so far.  We've used a series of books from the library, along with some Native American stories from our own collection.  We spend about a week on a particular group, with a couple days on their ways of life and then their stories.  We studied many of the homes earlier in the school year in our house-building block.  As far as crafts and cooking, we've done a few things here and there as time and resources permitted. 

Generally, we've heard creation stories, along with other significant legends.  "The Hero Twins and the Swallower of Clouds" was one that Willow enjoyed.  It was a story of how rain, mist, fog, and snow returned to the earth after the giant was slain.  Those are spider webs over the giant's eyes, if you were wondering! 

Willow has a great knack for seeing shooting stars, so "Why There are Shooting Stars" was a good one for her to hear.  I've also shared my own memories of my trip to the desert Southwest with the children, what it was like to climb down into Mesa Verde and what Monument Valley was like.  It has been a whole family experience, which is one of the many joys of homeschooling.

School Days

Bright and challenging are words I would use to describe things lately.  The days have been full, very full, and I can see that I will need to be even more disciplined in this new season of life.  In between illness and a broken arm, we have done our best to move forward with our studies.   They are my studies, too, after all.  Roan spent a couple weeks working with numbers, reviewing some qualities, and doing some simple things with his increasing collection of stones, marbles, and crystals.

Willow had a second block with Old Testament stories.  We spent the first block, through the sons of Cain, with Jakob Streit's book And There Was Light.  This time around, we used the Christopherus Old Testament stories, as we simply have so much ground to cover.  There will be a third block before the year is out.  Please don't feel bad if blocks take longer than the recommendations--they are simply recommendations, after all!

In our work with numbers, we heard stories about one-to-one matching, greater than and less than, and even and odd.  We played games for each, which wasn't something I did a lot of with Willow.  She had some more age and development on her, so it wasn't as necessary.  For Roan, it is just plain fun.  Here, they were playing Contest for the Crown, where two similar princes vie for the crown, one being false and less than the other.  Willow contributed some of her costume jewelry for the contest.

Roan is cast-free now, and learning to use his arm again.  He's working with vowels this week, while Willow and I study The People of the Rice, as Christopherus calls them.  I find myself missing the complete materials of Enki for grade three, but I am gaining proficiency in finding what we need from used books and our local library.  Always one to love Natalia Belting and her wonderful stories, we'll be using two Ojibwa stories from The Earth Is On a Fish's Back this week.  We also had a nice windfall of some Native American books donated to the local library.  These are often sold for a small donation, so they are now a part of our library.

For vowels, we'll have a return to painting with water colors, and spend this week intensively painting the sounds of each.  If it helps anyone, I think it's quite possible to get three cups of paint out of the smaller bottle size, instead of the pint I used mix up.  These are the more vivid Stockmar colors--carmine red, golden yellow, and prussian blue.  I'm not sure the others would do so well.

And with that, there is much to do and I must get to work in these last few minutes.  Thank you all for your kind words and prayers.  They have been a tremendous help to me in this experience.  I never dreamed I would be here, but it is here that I am.  I wish you all a happy Tuesday!

Crafting On

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
And today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the the ever-new dawn!

~The Waldorf Book of Poetry :: Edited by David Kennedy

Knitting has a real balm for me this Winter, and so I've kept at it.  There are many things that I cannot say right now about how my life has changed in the past while, but suffice it to say that it has changed tremendously.  Knitting, along with the daily things of school and meals and love, has kept on.  I started the Hap Blanket last week, and it has been coming together easily.  A big square of garter stitch has a way of doing that, and I hope the edging will be as kind.  This is a blanket-shawl for Spring, for all that it means and for what is beginning in our lives right now.  It is a Winter season of life for me, on the verge of something very new.  The above words from The Waldorf Book of Poetry have been a wonderful comfort and reminder.

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.

Snow Study

The return to school work involved plans for a week of Winter stories for Roan and weather study for Willow--a perfect match.  I know that many people try to plan concurrent blocks for their children, but I have generally kept the work separate, since everybody hears most every story, anyway.  It's definitely more Wintry this year, so we spent two weeks on our one week blocks.  When a powdery snow began falling Friday night and most of the day yesterday, even better!

It was so easy to see all the flakes and their beautiful details.  It's a treat when the forecast shows no snow and it showers down all day.  It's too bad it didn't amount to six inches, but we're going to look for more snow today.

See?  Tiny crystals!

I remember finding the most snowy part of a hill, after the bulk had melted, and sliding down as much as I could.  I was wearing out the snow, I guess.  For this snow, the pine needles covering the ground at the Roland Estate provided the extra slippery runway we needed.  It's so nice that they encourage us to play in that yard, too.  There are many times I really, really long to live in the country where we could spread out more in a yard of our own.

Willow spent several days, earlier in the week, on her snow crystal pictures.  We read Snowflake Bentley and The Big Snow among other stories, which gave her inspiration.  Her printing is coming along, I think.  She seldom uses capital letters out of place now.

We saw plenty of frozen waterfalls and icicles coming out of rocks on our drive through the Grandfather Mountain area.  I had her make a picture of the Ice Rocks from memory, since our visit is still a ways off.   Well, it's time to sign off and make waffles.  We got a waffle maker for Christmas and everyone is very excited!

The Homeschooling Introvert

See the old woman a-pickin' her geese!
Selling her feathers a penny apiece!

~ Still Glides the Stream :: Flora Thompson

On Monday, as it was spitting snow and sleet, Roan and I watched the goldfinches in the hemlock tree.  The bulk of the crowd was picking the seeds out of the tiny cones at a rapid rate, while a few others were doing cleanup on the ground.  We learned about their Winter coats, with the help of one of those wee Golden Books bird guides.  It was a happy moment, where a mother can say, "Now this is holistic learning."

I think it is easy to question ourselves in this new era of "communication."  It's also just as easy to "find your tribe" and live in a world of your own making.  As a homeschooling parent, one can find oneself surrounded by a plethora of strong opinions, methodologies, and labels.  Strong opinions come with the territory, I think.  It can feel like a confusing tangle to find just the right place for your own family, and to accept your own constraints and strengths.

I've always been the introvert, the INFJ, and the way we do things is an extension of my abilities.  I am content to spend my days quietly, even if I am surrounding by three vivacious children!  I've had the socialization topic come up just a time or two.  One person said I was always choosing who my children were around.  That is largely true, though people who choose conventional schooling make that choice, too.  They simply choose from a larger pool.

Being who I am, I've spent a long time reflecting on the options around me and the ones I've settled upon.  I've also observed how things have fallen into place for our methods, how we come upon new adventures that seem to match our studies.  Finding the Enki curriculum was like seeing my life come full circle.  Waldorf was a calming breath of fresh air.  I liken it to sitting on a warm stone on one of our mountains as a pleasant breeze goes by.  It made sense.  It felt right.

I've given lots of thought to how I go about my days and how my behavior will influence my children.  I do want them to be content within themselves, capable of fulfilling their own emotional needs, and I think introversion serves this well.  I also want them to enjoy community in regular doses, and I feel this will grow as they do.  For now, we enjoy having friends over for some of our family festivals, and we attend various local festivals focused on Appalachian culture.  It's an evolving picture of balance.

I think the biggest lessons I wish to come out of homeschooling are contentment and creativity, as they have lifelong benefits.  Consumer culture would like for us to avoid such immaterial things and to be wildly "social." I know I'm increasing my aptitude for these skills, right alongside my children, and we're doing it at a pace that is just right for all of us.

Twelve Days of an Appalachian Christmas I :: Beginnings

I'm hoping, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, to spend the next days writing a little about the history and customs of Christmas celebrations in Appalachia.  Our own celebrations have been a little disjointed, with moments of pure joy and others of desperation, as the children have taken turns being sick.  It had been six months, so I guess we were very blessed!  Let's just hope Mama doesn't take a turn!  Enough of that, let's begin with some Christmas preparations in these dear mountains.

I'm referring to two books for this series: A Foxfire Christmas: Appalachian Memories and Traditions and Christmas in the Mountains: Southwest Virginia Christmas Customs and Their Origins.

Christmas as it was known here was held back, if that is the right way to say it.  Outside influences and commercialism were slower in taking hold, and many customs dated back hundreds of years.  If you've watched "A Tudor Monastery Farm Christmas" or read Christmas Folk, the customs will seem familiar. They have meshed well with our Waldorf perspective, to be certain, which can seem about as far from Appalachia as one could get.  In reality, it's a perfect match.

The Foxfire book begins with Christmas decorations.  They were found objects, both natural and otherwise, that were collected and reinvented to make things pretty.  Like many with a need and little pocket money, people made what they required, using saved bits of foil or everyday items like popped corn.  They rolled beeswax candles and made others using sand molds.  Strips of paper from catalogs trimmed the trees, along with paper dolls and bits of yarn.  Jean Ritchie offers a wonderful account of her family's first tree here.  We have many folks around here who are wreath makers, and it could be that your tree  or wreath came from our mountains.

The first non-native people to really settle in our Southwest Virginia were immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany.  It's fairly easy to find more information on this topic (with a wide range of opinions!), so I won't spend a lot of time on it.  My mother's family, who has been in this area for a good many generations, hailed from the British Isles.

The view of the early Appalachian settler has been one of many stereotypes, but suffice it to say that these people were a hardy lot.  The mountains were considered a sort of hunting grounds before non-native people settled here.  Our hills (called New Appalachia) were steep, the soil was often poor or thin, and the weather varied tremendously, being the last vestiges of glaciation.  They dug in their heels, worked hard, and required few material possessions.  I think that kind of spirit is still at work here.  Each place has its own social ills, and we have our fair share, but we also have plenty of love of place, resourcefulness, and rugged sense of self that make this land a great place to live.
 

Crafting On :: Tying Up Loose Ends

Just in the nick of time, shepherds came to visit the Holy Family.  I made the bodies, heads, and hats last year, but ran out of steam.  I squirreled them away, thinking I could add to Roan's Nativity each year.  It was a great plan!  They are a happy pair.  I used the instructions from The Nature Corner.  We set them out a bit ahead of schedule, since we are expecting company in a couple days.  Roan didn't mind a bit.

Here's the next leaf-edged scarf.  It went beautifully and I definitely have an almost no-brainer formula worked out for making another one for myself.  Some time.  There is still one thing left to make, but I've got time. 

And now, well, time to work on supper.  Happy Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve!  (The children love to say it that way.)

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.

Lucia Morning

Oh, it was a cold start yesterday, but everything was joyful for our special morning. 

After having made that pretty crown bread and lighting the candles, I had to jump back in bed and pretend to be asleep.  

What a dear little star boy Roan was, holding his own candle in the dark, cold morning.  Laurel held up the end with Virginia dressed as a tiny Lucia.  

We had our bread and orange juice in the early light with frosty storm windows.  The story from Christmas Roses fit the morning so well.  The Lucia chapter talks of water turning to wine and animals talking at midnight, along with people waking to work very hard to set the mood for the year.  These are common beliefs for Christmas, I think, and they were held by the Appalachian folk of a hundred years ago. 

We took our procession down the street to my mother's office, adding in the Advent wreath with smaller candles.  I had seen it like this in photos, and it worked well!  Everyone was certainly in awe of Willow's special adornment!  We gave my parents hot tea in a thermos and returned home to go on with our day.  There are times that I feel a little sad, being the only adult here most of the time, but the children were so happy and proud to be Lucia and her attendants.  Their joy is contagious.

St. Nicholas Day in the Morning

Upon his snow white steed
With wind and lightning speed,
St. Nicholas leaves the sky
And comes a riding by.

The little hare hops night
And lifts his nose up high.
The stag, with pointing horn,
Jumps over bush and thorn.

All creatures dear
Are drawing quickly near.
Before St. Nicholas bow,
Their little heads so low.

And we will learn a tune
Of sun and star and moon,
And sing our happy lay,
Sing on St. Nicholas' day.

~Winter :: Wynstones

P.S. The children received these little bags of three golden coins, in addition to a few chocolate coins.  They really look like gold!  Now, they're playing pirates!

The First Light

The first Sunday of Advent has passed now, and things still feel a long way off.  I guess they are not--it's three weeks from today that Christmas begins in earnest.  The weather has been warmer the past week or so, but we are expecting a very icy blast to come blowing in tomorrow night.  I'm ready for it, and I need some dark, gloomy weather.  I think of this time of year as a time of drawing inward, so I'm not quite feeling settled into the mood of Advent yet. 

I have had a feeling of holding off this year, of letting Christmas come slowly.  The gifts are coming along, both the purchases and homemade items, but my spirit has not followed suit.  I guess I'm saving my enthusiasm for the Twelve Days, instead of obsessing about all the preparations.  The big moon was a help, though.  I really love long nights and short days.  I don't guess I have too much to say lately, just a lot to think about.  Here are some things for listening, if you have enjoyed Lynn Jericho's Inner Christmas messages for the Twelve Holy Nights.

School Days

School days are chugging along, doing the next thing, and making adjustments to the schedule.  I've learned a lot in these almost three months of two students, both about my students and my materials.  Roan has completed his quality of numbers block, and I believe he was glad.  He said he wouldn't go past drawing thirteen fairies!  He does have a kind of diligence that is admirable, and he is willing to complete things without shutting down. 

My thoughts on his first grade year so far are that we are taking our time.  He is younger, chronologically and developmentally, than Willow was during first grade.  I am glad to take things at his speed, stretching him where needed and letting him linger over things and revisit them, too.  I need to do some research on how to handle this in my state, but I think we'll just plug along slowly and pick up with more first grade work next September.  That is the bonus of homeschooling, after all. 

Willow has completed her time and money block.  Telling time has been pretty easy for her, so we focused on units of time outside of a clock.  We learned about the phases of the moon and some units of time people used before clocks came on the scene.  Willow has a pretty good grasp on how to buy things in a store on her own, so we did the same with money.  We learned some of its history (more on Yap Island here) and worked on firming up carrying over.  I'll have to get a photo of our "math house" improvisation.

This block required me to make up the materials myself, so I relied on life experience and encyclopedias.  It feels a little archaic to use them, yes, but I think there is real merit to doing so.  They do tell about things in a sort of a story format, which I think fits well with Waldorf.  We take what works and leave the rest, in terms of outdated or biased information.  I really think it is important for children to see me using books to learn, instead of a computer.

From here, we'll move to Old Testament stories for Willow and fairy tale letters for Roan.  Willow hasn't heard many Bible stories, believe it or not, even though she has attended church.  We've kept that to seasonal festivals and bedtime rituals, which is further explained in A Guide to Child Health.  That could sound terrible to say that (especially living in a very religious area), but I suppose it is up to each parent to make choices about what their children are exposed to.

I think she is ready to hear the stories and I am seeing that Roan is ready for the more challenging fairy tales of grade one.  There is always something to learn, and I must admit I can't think of a better use of my mind.

Christmas Plans 2017

Imagine my surprise (and relief!) when I was told Advent begins a week from tomorrow.  I think we are all glad to have a little extra time this time of year.  I've begun clearing some things from the house to provide some visual silence before things begin the slow (but very excited) build toward Christmas.  This is our nature table from last year, at the height of last year's celebration.  I thought I would try to lay out my plans for this year, both to gather my thoughts and share them here.

My overall mood for this year is quiet and historical (traditional?  What's the right word here?)  I mean to say that we'll just do our own things together, for starters.  We live in a culture that's always trying to drive us away from our homes in the name of "socializing," and my personality just doesn't fit that.  Let my children see who I am and how one lives a quiet life.  As for the traditional or historical part, I mean share with the children what the people of our mountains did in their Christmas celebrations over a hundred years ago.  I'll be writing more on that very soon.

As for Saint Nicholas Day, I chose these gold coins in a velvet pouch that I think they will love, and I'll give them a few chocolate coins, per our tradition.  We'll likely read a few stories from Christmas in the Family about St. Nicholas.  We used the Jakob Streit book last year for a mini-block on St. Nicholas, fitting in with the Saints and Sages mood of second grade.  We don't generally do gifts on that day, but I may give them the books I got them over the Summer:

For Roan: Lucy and Tom's Christmas (as we all love Shirley Hughes)
For Laurel: Christmas Angels (always angels for Laurel)
For Willow: The Cricket and the Shepherd Boy (she really love Reg Down)

We've decided to get our Christmas tree around December 15th this year.  We'll go to the tree farm we've visited in the past.  It is a little funny to read about tree shortages, honestly, when I have been watching truckloads of them leave our mountains since October.  And many farms have overgrown trees, meaning we often leave a tall stump when we cut ours.  It will re-sprout, in addition to providing fresh greenery for the many wreath-makers who are so busy this time of year.  I'm not too worried about a tree shortage here. ;-)

I've bought the children's presents already and expect them to arrive on Monday.  I always love A Toy Garden, so I got everything there.  I really prefer to use small online Waldorf shops, and I do compare between them for selection and price.  Here's what I chose:

For Roan: Wood Marble Run and an Audubon bird call
For Laurel:  Tea kettle and tall soup pot
For Willow: Wooly sheep rug hooking kit and Grimm's rainbow keyring

As far as Christmas baking, I'm thinking less is more this year.  I've planned the Saint Lucia crown that turned out so well last year.  We will probably bake it the day before, since I will be alone with the children and they really want to "wake" me up.  I'm hoping to put together a Christmas pudding tomorrow, but I'm still puzzling over which recipe to use and how long to let it sit.  I'll make my usual eggnog cheesecake bars some time, along with some peppermint bark and sugar cookies.  And that's it.  Can it really be it?  It sounds luxuriously simple!

November Nature Table

Getting things just right for the evening, including the plate of food for the Tomten.