Gruesse zur Wintersonnenwende

The heaps and heaps and heaps of snow which fell this weekend created a fitting backdrop for our family's Winter Solstice.  We ate by candlelight, and the intermittent glow of the temperamental string of LEDs we have in the kitchen.

After dinner, the TruffulaBoyz made pomanders with tangerines and cloves.  The results smell fantastic!

We then revisited some of the songs we used during our recent Advent Spiral [with better candelight for the lead musician this time ;-) ].

I hadn't realized that the Winter Solstice is also called "Thomastag", recalling said apostle's reluctance to acknowledge the risen Jesus (and the longest night before the return of the Light).

How to have a simple and effective Advent Spiral

Location: a lovely basement room with a beautiful cork floor.  As an alternative, I love Melisa Neilson's idea of holding it in a garage.
The participants: 5 families with 9 children between us, ranging from 16 months to 9.5 years
Things to bring: candles, candleholders, and optionally, a snack to share

Our host prepared her room before we came by laying out her floor in a spiral of greens.  She added a pine cone here and there, as well as golden cardboard stars, and placed a candle in the spiral's center.

As our group gathered, the children took the time to play.  When we were ready to begin, our host went downstairs, turned off the lights, and lit the center candle, plus a few others around the room.

I had prepared a packet of songs for each family - those extra candles around the periphery of the room were super-handy in providing us enough light to read the sheets!  To help set the mood, I led the group in singing "Down with Darkness" - we sang it a few times through.

Then, I continued the music by playing my recorder and singing.

One of the moms began the Spiral by walking into the center, lighting her candle, and then setting it on the path as she came back out.  We continued with the oldest child (with the intent of modeling the walk for the other children), and the rest of the kids took turns - in no particular order.

Each of us had brought our own candles and candleholders - no two were the same, which created a delightful variety along the spiral.

At the end, I led us in a few repetitions of "Dona Nobis Pacem".

When we were finished, the children went back to playing.  When hunger set in, we enjoyed some potluck snacks.

This is the music we used

• My candle burns
• Down with darkness
• The Holly and the Ivy (pdf)
• O Come, O Come Emmanuel
• Dona Nobis Pacem (pdf)
• Advent Table Play (pdf) with 2 songs: "From heaven's arch so high" and "While the stars are shining bright"
• "On the golden star path walking" from All Year Round
  

Things to do differently next time:

• Before moving into the Spiral room/area, chat more thoroughly with the children to help them enter a meditative, contemplative mood.
• During the chat, describe to the children what they will do in the spiral - I thought our first youthful Spiral-walker knew what he was doing, only to find out afterward that he did not.  Oops!
• Make sure the recorder player / singer has a good candle and set of music in the place where she'll sit or stand.  I did not do this in advance, and ended up improvising my set-up.
• We did not read or tell a story.  This worked out ok, but a story would have added a nice touch.
  

Isn't this simple plate of oranges and pomegranate seeds gorgeous?!  I just had to take its photo! :-)

Star cookies in honor of the coming Solstice.

Lavender Shortbread for the Summer Solstice

The lavender in our garden is looking fabulous, and the many visiting bees we welcome every day think so, too!  I've been expanding my culinary herb horizons this season, and I thought about what to bake for this Summer Solstice, Lavender Shortbread came to mind, and wouldn't leave.  Recipe decision settled!  Out into the garden I went, scissors in hand to bring in some of the beautiful and fragrant blooms.

I used the Lavendar Shortbread recipe from Renee's Garden

Review:  Because this was my first-ever use of culinary lavender, I wanted to taste it by itself.  Therefore, I omitted the mint.  And, because I didn't have any lavender powered sugar, I used confectioner's sugar.  My little "baking assistants" were excited to note that the dough was egg-free.  (This freed them up to lick their spoons once the mixing was finished!)  The cookies passed Quality Control with flying colors.  The cookies had a delightful floral note, which some of my tasters mis-identified as vanilla.  This recipe is a keeper!

 

  

  

Enjoy!

Easter and Garden Preparation, and... snow!

Wooosh!  (That was the sound of our day whizzing along.)

We started off by singing two songs, one for Palm Sunday, and the other for Holy Thursday, from Das große Jahresbuch für Kinder: Feste feiern und Bräuche neu entdecken. Neither S nor T really wanted to participate, but the tunes were so catchy that I overheard them singing to themselves throughout the day.  And, at bedtime, S directed the three of us in his own version of one of the refrains.  Outcome = success.

Why is Holy Thursday called "Gruendonnerstag"?  This same book had some stories for us, around which we had a discussion of Passover, a retelling of the parting of the Red Sea, and a look ahead at the Last Supper.

Then, we moved towards gardening!  I sorted our seeds into categories, and S and I did some additional research into what we should be planting when.  Cornell University has these lovely Vegetable Growing Guides.  And, are you ready for this?! Via Bethe Balmeras, I learned about this groovy drag-and-drop Kitchen Garden Planner, absolutely perfect for Square Foot Gardening designs.

After lunch, we headed outside.  We planted wheat next to the "W" in our Alphabet Garden, dug and compost-enriched four holes, set up a teepee for our peas to use as a trellis, and planted two varieties of said peas.   While S and a young neighbor (I was so delighted that he joined us!) were working on the holes, T used his toy dump truck to haul compost to our work site.   After the boys headed off to play, I planted two varieties of carrot seeds, and set up a rain barrel to start to collect water for the season.

While I was doing some spring garden cleanup, I noticed white bits whirling about.  It *was* windy, and I assumed that these were cherry blossom petals coming down.  Nope.  Guess again!  It was SNOW.  Yes, we had several bouts of snow flurries in April.  Dear snow, thanks for visiting, but we are ready to move on to spring.

Now celebrating: a rabbit birthday!

The other day, T announced that we needed to bake a cake.  Why?  Well, of course, because it was Rabbie's birthday.  And, we didn't need just any old cake.  It needed to be a carrot cake.  Why?  Because carrots are Rabbie's favorite vegetable.  (In case you are keeping close notes, T added that cherries are her favorite fruit.)

It just wasn't possible to crank out a cake that day.  No problem!  T moved the birthday.  Today's the day!

Cake production commenced.  It had been a while since I pulled the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book out (it used to be my go-to book, but then Google was developed...), but I had a feeling that it would contain a basic Carrot Cake recipe for Rabbie's special occasion.  BHG didn't disappoint.  I grated, and stirred, and baked.

In honor of the coincidence with Valentine's Day, I pulled the heart-shaped cookie cutter off the drying rack, and pressed it back into service.  Because I intended to send some of the "results" to some other recipients, I opted to put the frosting inside, rather than on top of, the hearts.

Voila!  (For reference, yes, the cake hearts traveled well in their containers.)

Here's the birthday girl, complete with her birthday crown:

Chinese Dragon Puppets!

Just discovered a tutorial for fabulous Chinese Dragon Puppets from That Artist Woman, perfect for the Chinese New Year.

The puppets turned out splendidly, don't you think?

Preparing for Candlemas

... or, as it's known in German, Maria Lichtmess

• Candlemas - Wikipedia
• All About Candlemas (Presentation of the Lord): Candlemas History, Information, Prayers, Resources, Traditions, & More
• Maria Lichtmess oder Darstellung des Herrn
• Heft zum Fest "Darstellung des Herrn" bzw. "Mariä Lichtmess"! (a very, very, very nice activity guide!  Achtung: auf Deutsch!

And, this Sunday is the day for the Blasiussegen:

• Heil und Heiling: Blasius als Vorbild und als Fuerbitter
• St. Blaise
  

Die Sternsinger waren da!

This afternoon, we welcomed visitors from the Orient to our home:

A team of Sternsinger visited us, bring with them a song, some verses, and a blessing for our home.  On our front door, they chalked: 20*C+M+B+09.  The letters stand for the Latin "Christus Mansionem Benedicat", or "Christ, bless this house."  Just as the three wise men brought gifts to the Christ child, the Sternsinger collect donations to benefit children in need.  This year's focus was on children in Columbia.

Clearing off the 2008 To-Do list

My parents' birthday tradition for us children was that we got to have a birthday ring -- with candle! -- at our place at the table.  So, when my sister welcomed a family addition this year, I decided that her family, too, should have such a ring!  Only... that remained a good intention until today.  There were several to-do items on my mental to-do list, and accomplishing the birthday ring purchase was one of them!

After a bunch of web research, and comparing the various rings and sets I found, I settled on the 16-hole birthday ring set from Nova Natural.  This one doesn't have any figures with it -- I'm thinking that we can perhaps make these over time, and send them to the Birthday Children on their special days...  Yup, another to-do list item... :-)  (However, this one is not for 2008, so that's not a problem.)

As usual, one weblink led to the next for me, and... I went on a tangent for Advent Spirals, finding, among other things, this lovely, lovely, lovely idea for a felted Advent Spiral from Harmony Valley Homeschool!  Harmony Valley, in turn, linked to this tutorial for the felted Advent Spiral mat.  Hmm... do I sense another 2009 To-Do list item? ;-)

Einmarsch der Nikolausmaenner!

The St. Nikolaus bread man production went into overdrive!  Six batches of dough later, "Nikolaus" had produced some larger men for secretly putting on our family plates overnight, and a gazillion smaller ones for giving away.  I like to add a dash of lemon or orange extract into the mix.  Alas, when I took out my extract bottle, and poured... nothing came out.  Hmmm... I guess I had put the empty bottle back into the cabinet when I last used it.  So, this year's men were extract-free.  And, I put the extract box and bottle into the recycling bin, and made a note on the shopping list.

Our tradition is to take bread men to the children in our neighborhood (where "child" is loosely defined to include the "young-at-heart" as well).   I took both S and T along for my deliveries.  T was very proud to take the men designated for a given house into his gloved hands (it was cooold!), confidently ring the doorbell, and announce our gift.

Advent Preparation 2008

We're celebrating Advent with our simple wreath of wooden spoons again:

Martinstag 2008

No lanterns for us this year -- my little sidekicks didn't want to make any, so I let that go.

Instead, we made bread men -- Weckmaenner -- which was a first for us.  (We'd only made those for St. Nicholas Day. That actually threw S for a loop: he wondered what had happened to the plate of goodies St. Nicholas brings with him!  I explained that this was next month...)  I improvised ours, but here's a Weckmann recipe which looks promising.

T and I ran through a few St. Martin tunes after lunch -- he sang, and I played the melodies on the recorder.  Before dinner, S and I did the same.

We'll round out our celebration over the course of the week.  I have a bunch of outgrown clothing items in need of new homes; in honor of the day, the boys will take these bags over to a wonderful local clothes closet on Thursday.  And, S and T will get one more dose of Martinstag on Sunday during church.

Gearing up for Martinmas/Martinstag

The Martinmas/Martinstag feast has sort of snuck up on me this year... in years past, we'd already have been retelling Martin's story at bedtime, and singing songs.

Still, the season is upon me. Now that we've set our clocks back, it's dark when I walk home from the bus stop... and pass a few street lights... that lead me to think of lanterns... and have me humming (if not singing outright!) "Laterne, Laterne" as I head down the hill with a lighter step.

Just in time for our preparations, Sarah at the Alphabet Garten has put together a comprehensive Martinstag unit study for German speakers and learners. Vielen Dank, Sarah! Wir freuen uns schon auf die Nikolaustag Ausgabe. :-)

Happy Spring!

To welcome Spring, we've been reading Aufgewacht, der Fruehling kommt!, by Sigrid Laube and Silke Leffler. It's published by the Annette Betz Verlag (Austria) -- check 'em out, as their books include quite a few gems for children.

It's a lovely story about how Spring is eager to arrive on March 21, only... the calendar page hasn't yet been turned... The illustrations are delightful as well. (The cover shows the Daffodil, Snow Drop, Violet, and the Erdfrau.)

Among the conversation topics our reading inspired were zwiebeln (bulbs) and whether the ones from which flowers grow are the same ones we eat (Gr. zwiebel = onion). And, on a prowl for signs of Spring, we noted yesterday that yes, our violets are starting to bloom!

Frohe Ostern!

Aren't these little bunnies cute? The pattern is from the Spring 2008 issue of Living Crafts magazine. And, it's super easy. Once I made one, I was set (which was terribly convenient, as I misplaced my magazine for a few days...).

The bunnies are smaller than I thought from reading through the pattern. It turns out that they are perfectly pocket-sized. In fact, T has been carrying his around in his pants pocket!


I'm having S knit a bunny of his own -- it's essentially a rectangle which you tie off and sew together to shape. However, he's decided that he prefers sewing to knitting. [Hey, I'm not going to argue with a kid who wants to sew. :-) ] I'm still going to insist on basic knitting skills. In the meanwhile, here's S sewing up the bottom of a bunny we sent to my nephews:

St. Patrick

I went to the library in search of, among other things, a book or two about St. Patrick -- this was both in preparation for St. Patrick's Day, and also for S to read for his Grade 2 saints...

The requisite section of the stacks was very picked-over. But, there -- right in the middle of an otherwise bare shelf -- it was: Tomie de Paola's Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland, exactly what I had scoped out for S at the beginning of the school year, and about which I had promptly forgotten. Gratefully, I scooped it up, along with Petook: An Easter Story for T.


I offered to read the book to S, but he wanted to read it himself. For our MLB, we printed out a map of Ireland. S dictated his summary to me, and then recopied my sentences. (This was a compromise, since he would otherwise have refused to write anything.)

I thought he'd give me something about one or two of the legends associated with St. Patrick. Nope! What caught the attention of my little dog-lover was this: "Als er ans Boot kam, sind die Jagdhunde still geworden." (When he [St. Patrick] came to the boat, the hunting dogs became still.)

And, check out that border! It's green and orange, and S researched to learn that these two colors mixed together make brown. So, the middle line is brown. As far as he was concerned, he was just making a nice design... how's that for some unintentional form drawing?


And, to celebrate the day, we made this "Dark Irish Soda Bread". Of course, I substituted ingredients. :-) Instead of buttermilk, I used homemade yogurt. And, per the wishes of my bakers, we left out the caraway seeds. I thought the outcome was just so-so, and was disappointed that the loaf was so (relatively) small. For me, the recipe was on its way to the recycling bin. However, the bread got very positive reviews over dinner. So, I guess I'm keeping it...

What we are reading this Advent season

"Und als das Kind ihm freundlich zulächelte, da wusste der kleine Esel, dass der neue König auch dem geringsten seiner Geschöpfe Liebe schenkt."

And when the infant gave him [the donkey] a friendly smile, the donkey knew that the new king loved even the least of his creatures.

This story about traveling to see the newborn Christchild is told from the donkey's perspective.

We read the German version of Ein Esel geht nach Bethlehem, by Gerda Merie Scheidl; the English version, titled The Little Donkey, is surely equally touching.

S gave a contented sigh as we reached the end, saying that this was the nicest story he'd heard.

Lasst uns froh und munter sein - our visit from St. Nicholas

Lasst uns froh und munter sein,
und uns recht von Herzen freun!
Lustig, lustig, traleralera!
Bald ist Nikolaus Abend da,
bald ist Nikolaus Abend da!

St. Nicholas came to visit us again this year!

We've spent the past few nights singing verses from "Lasst uns froh und munter sein."

Today, S and T decorated paper plates in anticipation of tonight's visit.

St. Nicholas' helper industriously set to work after bedtime, making a sweet yeast dough for the bread-men which are traditional St. Nicholas Day fare in our family. (I add extra sugar to the recipe, and a dash of lemon or orange extract -- depending on what I have on hand -- for festive flavor!).

As has been our custom in previous years, St. Nicholas brought bread-men for some of our neighbors as well. Together with S and T, we will deliver these to the families, along with our good wishes, tomorrow.

How to make a simple advent wreath from wooden spoons

Seventeen (!) years ago, I was a student in Austria. After church one Sunday, I picked up a little Advent guide for children. One of the craft ideas in it was to make an Advent wreath from wooden spoons.

Wreath-less at the time, I thought this was a great idea. Off to the store I went, in search of suitable spoons!

Here is this year's interpretation of the Spoon Wreath:

Lay the spoons in a square so that the stem of one rests upon the "spoon" end of the next.

Place some greens at the intersection of the spoons, and tie in place with a festive ribbon. (Our greens this season were gathered on a walk in the middle of the city! S and T saved them from their fate on the sidewalk. They gave them to me to carry... I clutched them in my hand for the next several hours, as we completed our errand, stopped in at the zoo, and then took public transportation home.)

Be careful to keep greens and the ribbons away from your candles!

Put a tea light on each spoon. You can also use votive candles. If you choose votives, cover each spoon with a piece of foil to catch any dripping wax.

We put our wreath on a wooden tray, but have also put it on a piece of foil in the past.

After the Advent season is over, simply untie the spoons, compost the greens, and pack the spoons and ribbons away for next year.

And, here's our final product, with the first candle blazing!

Update 15 November 2008:  This post has turned out to be a popular search engine find!  I invite you to leave a comment sharing your own wreath-making experience.

Those saint stories really do hit the spot with second graders!

With Martinmas coming up, we went into high gear on reading about St. Martin.

We read through this particular set of stories last year. But this time around, S has been particularly taken with the "take home message" that being a Christian means serving others as Christ - and Martin - did.

This morning, we went past our local Starbucks to see whether they had any coffee grounds available for pickup. I had promised S that, if they did, he could have the entire bag for his own compost pile.

Well, there were grounds to be had! T cheerfully took the bag, and insisted that he would carry it to the car. Problem! *S* wanted to carry the bag... Such differences of opinion are not uncommon. Only this time, it wasn't the "normal" situation of both brothers wanting to do the same thing at the same time. S was upset because *he* wanted to be the one doing the serving; he didn't want to *be* served!

Hours later, I'm still amazed.

*The* resource for Martinmas preparations / Martinstag Vorbereitung (in German)