On Christmas Eve, we always read ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas, by Clement C. Moore, with the bowl-full-of-jelly Santa and “up to the housetop the coursers they flew!” My kids have come to enjoy it, even if they don’t understand it. Heck, even I had to look up “coursers”, a word which here alludes to Santa’s fleet footed reindeer, but generally refers to swift horse. But then there’s this:
“As dry leaves that before
the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle
mount to the sky.”
It’s magical. And the only time my kids will sit still for poetry.
My first grader’s class is exploring holiday traditions around the world. While I was volunteering in class, we read Seven Spools of Thread, a Kwanzaa story of seven brothers who fight and then are forced to work together to weave a beautiful, multicolored cloth to earn their father’s inheritance. The kids wove their own paper cloth of many colors, no small feat for tiny fingers. There were a couple irreparably damaged cloths along the way, but these first graders were not easily dissuaded, and readily believed in the magic of working together.
And my blogging friend, Rachel, shared her family’s hilarious attempt at starting a Hanukkah tradition. No books were involved (or harmed) in this endeavor, but there was a small house-fire, an encounter with the police, and some home-made magic of the illuminating kind.
As the kids spring from their ice encrusted school grounds, we will spend the next week desperately searching for last minute gifts, baking Christmas cookies, and tracking Santa on NORAD.
About the third day, I will begin to curse the people who authorized children to have two FULL weeks off school for the holidays. Then I will remember that’s me (I’m on the local school board) and will try to gin up some holiday spirit. By the fifth day, I’ll be craving an escape to the Caribou Coffee for a caffeinated retreat with my mini laptop for some writing time. If I’ve been a very good girl, I may get my wish. And if I’m extremely lucky, I won’t be up past midnight on Christmas Eve trying to alter that Snow White costume for my pint-sized niece, who’s too small for the normal dress-up clothes (what was I thinking???).
And then I’ll eat some Christmas cookies and thank my lucky stars that I have a whole and healthy family to once again celebrate the miracle of a baby born in a manger 2000 years ago.
Merry Christmas to you and all the best for a healthy, happy holiday! Ink Spells will take a hiatus and return with the New Year.
p.s. Do you have a special book you associate with the holidays? Please share your traditions!
An interesting itinerary. Me, I'm just going to work. My son is eleven and I only work two minutes away, so he's going to enjoy all that alone time with the computer.
BTW, you've been tagged at my blog.
……..dhole
My eleven year old son wishes he didn't have to fight his two younger brothers for the computer. And is dreaming of iPhone Apps dancing in his head . . .
Tag sounds fun – I'll have to check it out!
Thanks for stopping by!
Oh, my 2nd graders get a whole host of holiday books.
Merry Un-Christmas (illustrated by the goofy and glorious David Catrow)
Auntie Claus
Fave Christmas Poem, no offense to Clement Clarke Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas: "The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus" by Ogden Nash. Lotsa gleeful mischief and a just and silly end to the unbelieving boy
Happy Holidays! 🙂
I felt like Auntie Claus tonight, tailoring a Snow White dress for my littlest niece!
I'll have to check out those cool holiday books.
Thanks for stopping by!
Aw, if you were Auntie Claus u would be supervising at the North Pole, not being a fairy godmother/seamstress! 🙂
We read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas as part of our Christmas Eve tradition. Now our boys read it to us. This is a wonderful treat. We also have How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, a Bethlehem Christmas story book as the standards under the Christmas tree every year. Books are part of our Christmas Eve family traditions. And yes NORAD is of keen interest as well.