2016 Christmas Break

Christmas break for us was full of activities. Some of them were our family's traditions, like making and decorating gingerbread cookies or going to a candle light service on Christmas Eve, and some were brand new, like making popcorn and cranberry garlands for the first time. 

We made a huge batch of homemade gingerbread cookies. Kids loved choosing the shapes and cutting them out of the rolled dough. Later, we spend about an hour decorating the cookies. 

Popping popcorn is one of the kids'  favorite things to do. This time they did not devour the bowlful of corn, but strung it on a thread with cranberries. We came up with different patterns and made a rather large number of strings.

Later, we took the popcorn garlands outside and hung them on the trees for the birds and squirrels to enjoy.

Warm Christmas day was ideal to test some new toys the kids got for Christmas. Andrew learning to operate his new drone.

Warm day brought out our ponds 'monster' turtle. This individual is bigger than my dinner plate.

'16/17 Week 17

Last week before Christmas was rather relaxed. In our studies, we came to a good spot for a taking a pause to enjoy the season. 
Many things took place this week. Saara turned one year older. She had a tiny birthday celebration with just our family and,  later in the week, a bigger party with her friends. Moms and siblings were invited to watch Saara's ballet class during their practice. Afterwards, everyone had fun at a little buffet of sweets. The last big performance for the children was their annual choir concert. It was beautiful as usual and both kids did a wonderful job. Christmas is a joyful time and this past week was full of joy and good will. 

Science. Saara identifying most common local butterflies.

Birthday morning for my little girl.

The last ballet practice this year.

2016 PGM Choirs Christmas concert.

Piano Recital. Christmas 2016

Both children started learning the piano in September. Three months later, they were ready to show off what they had learned during this time. The recital was a lovely evening where not only the students of the piano teacher played, but her whole family played and sang songs. Andrew and Saara also played their recorders. We finished off with a feast celebrating the season and the accomplishments of all the kids.

The Barrington Living History Farm

The Barrington Farm presented a Christmas on the Brazos event this year, which we were more than happy to participate in. We had a great visit to the farm a few years ago and the Christmas experience made us like the place even more. 
We also learned about wassailing. Wassail is not just a seasonal drink that has lost its fame, but it carries rich Christmas traditions that have been long forgotten. A lot of information about wassailing is available on the internet. The tradition we were taught and we participated in were slightly different, but they were lots of fun. The farm was divided into stations, like the Great House, the slave quarters, the shed, etc. representing different households in the area. The idea of wassailing was to sneak close to the house (station, in our case) and then make as much noise as possible. The head of the household would invite the revelers in and offer them wassail. 
Besides disrupting the quiet night with our loud shouting, we learned a lot about the Christmas time in the 1800s, what it was like for well-to-do farmers, or slaves owned by the farmer. 
The last station offered dance lessons. Saara was the only brave one in our company to learn a traditional barn dance. She had lots of fun. We all did.

The Pathway of Light

For over 10 years the local churches in Madissonville have come together to walk people through the life of Jesus Christ from His birth to His death on the cross. Close to 300 volunteers are involved every year to present scenes from the Gospel of Luke. As spectators, we were lead from one scene to another, but often times we as a crowd became partakes in the scenes. We were part of the throngs leaving the city when young Jesus got lost, or we became a crowd witnesses to miracles Jesus performed, or we were part of the people who saw his last moments on the cross. It was powerful. 

'16/17 Week 16

Nothing spectacular happened during our school days. We stayed on schedule with every subject. But things, lots of things, were happening after school hours, anything from a mundane dentist visit to going to Christmas parade, walking through the life of Jesus, wassailing like we were back in the 1800s, and treating friends and family to a wonderful piano recital. It was a busy week.

'16/17 Week 15

This was the craziest week in a while. We managed to pack in dentist visits, a few days of sickness, choir practices, a library visit, a play date, church, a ballet practice, and another Nutcracker ballet performance which Saara and I enjoyed very much.

Science. The weather turned cold. Andrew wrapped himself in a quilt to study his science lesson.

I normally do not allow reading at the breakfast table, but sometimes I do not mind it one bit.

Science. We are done studying yet another science book.