Friday, December 21, 2012

Village

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
Micah 5:2 (ESV)


Preschool Activities
Today is our first day of Christmas break with all the kids home!  I wanted to maintain Little Man's routine as much as possible while allowing the bigger boys to relax and have fun on their vacation from school.  Lego's are a perennial favorite at our house, and with three boys, we have blocks in every size, shape and color.  So I pulled out the bin of traditional sized Legos for the older boys to build with and the big Duplo blocks for little brother to enjoy.  I asked them first to build villages, small cities, with roads connecting them.  Then I handed my middle and my most artistic child Popsicle stick nativity story puppets that I'd made, but never used.  They had a good time acting out the story of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and then reenacted some aspects of the nativity story.  When they were done, I didn't push the issue.  They built all afternoon with their blocks, playing side-by-side.

Family Activities
Since we talked a little bit about the village of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, earlier in the day, I thought it would be great to head downtown together and enjoy the Christmas decorations.  The storefronts are all decked out for Christmas and every Friday there are carolers, treats, and horse drawn carriage rides.  Little Man especially was enthralled with the horses - they were huge standing next to my toddler!  We also had a lot of fun riding through town, singing Christmas songs, and seeing the lights.



Service Activities
Today is a great day to emphasize that little people can do big things!  We're making snowflakes (again), but this time we're sending them to the new Sandy Hook building to open on January 12.  We have answered any questions the kids had from overhearing conversations or news stories, but we didn't delve into deep conversations about what had happened in Connecticut.  In our service project today, I just wanted them to know that they were really helping kids at another school who were scared and sad to go back. 

If you would like to participate with your family as well, here is the information I received about the project:

"When school resumes for Sandy Hook, it will be in a new building. Parent-volunteers want to ensure that the students are welcomed back by a winter wonederland with the entire school decorated with as many unique snowflakes as possible.  So, please help the students of Sandy Hook have a winter wonterland at their new school! 

Please send your snowflakes to the Connecticut PTSA no later than Jan 12, 2013:

Connecticut PTSA
60 Connoly Parkway
Building 12, Suite 103
Hamden, CT 06514"

Snacks
We had a humble snack today, but a family favorite: apple and cheese slices with crackers

Songs
O Little Town of Bethlehem
How Far is it to Bethlehem
In this Town

Books
B is for Bethlehem, by Isabel Wilner

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