Christmas School

Starting the week after Thanksgiving, we jumped into Christmas School a la Read Aloud Revival. Four weeks focused on some of Jan Brett's classic Christmas (slash winter) picture books was just the perfect way to school through December. Not everything is pictured here, but we enjoyed The Mitten, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, The Hat, Christmas Trolls and The Night Before Christmas and plenty of learning and fun to fill the month! Here are the highlights (aka the things I thought to take pictures of):

A little Christmasy history one morning.

Our nature walk to find and study a coniferous tree was
lovely, but did not yield any conifers (I swear there was
at least one evergreen on our North Arm trail, but apparently
not!). So we enjoyed our snowy walk and then came home to
study the various pines and spruces and firs in our yard (and living room!).

Not really Christmas schooly, but math
was just regular math anyway, and both kids
had assignments to take a survey and then
graph their results. Here's Sam's data collection
about Minecraft preferences.

The Christmas school book club plans were for
Jan Brett's version of the mitten, which we love,
but this one is the one I grew up with and will always
hold a place in my heart.

The reindeer cookies they suggested to go with Wild Christmas
Reindeer didn't have great reviews, plus I wanted to my our fave gingersnaps
anyway, so I just combined the two ideas into these goofy (but delicious)
reindeer cookie treats.

Since most of Jan Brett's books that we were enjoying this month
had a Scandinavian influence, I found this book at the library
to help us learn a bit about the customs, history and traditions of
these Nordic countries. We read a few pages a day, and learned a lot!

Some great nonfiction with excellent pics to go along with our
reindeer studies.

And reindeer ornaments were a super fun
afternoon activity.

Sam wasn't into the crafting as much as Cal, but he
did humor me with this (antler-less) reindeer creation.

And he made this one to give to Zoe for Christmas.
(And then he was off playing or reading something else.)

Cal, on the other hand, loves the crafty life, and found lots
of different reindeer ornaments to make for lots of grandparents.
This afternoon of listening to classic Christmas songs while making
ornaments reminded me so much of growing up and doing the same thing
with my mom. When I shared that memory with her, she said she did the same
with her mom. Such a fun chain of memories for all of us.

These are part of a really great series we found at the library.
We mostly flipped through and looked at the pictures and read
a few interesting tidbits. We love chapter 10 which always has a game
and a recipe from the country, and we made a few of those.

We love latkes and these were a really delicious way
to celebrate what we learned about Ukraine.

I had no idea what to expect with these cookies.
I thought they'd be more like shortbread. But they were
soft and fluffy, like bread. Gregg called them a mix
between a pancake and a sugar cookie and they were really
tasty.

Making Norwegian Kringla.

We got creative with our shaping.

It’s always fun to read and look at different retellings
(and re-illustrations) of folk tales. Here’s a great collection, all wonderful.

When we read The Hat, we learned about hedgehogs.
They've become favorite animals of all of us.

This is a fun novel, not related to Jan Brett, but
set in Denmark so I figured it fit in nicely with all our
learning about Scandinavia. We still haven't finished it,
but it's been a fun read aloud this month.

Only a few of the very many versions of this story/poem we checked out at the library for our final week of Christmas School. I think my fave was Jan Brett tied with Roger Duvoisin (you may know him from Petunia). It was also fun to read a “biography” of Clement C. Moore’s experience of writing the poem. (But as we read in the author’s note from Matt Tavares, did he really write it?!) Cal loved the babies under the tree from Gyo Fujikawa. And Sam picked dinos as his fave.

Christmas school also happened to correspond with the
World Cup, so we spent a lot of lunch hours watching games.
One day Gregg pulled out the LEGO minifigs for a little lesson
demo on offsides.

Ah! Jolabokaflod! Thank you, Iceland, for this amazing
tradition! We spent the evening of Winter Solstice, our
last day of school for the year, snuggled up in our cozy spots,
lots of yummy cookies and popcorn to snack on, and new books
to open and read.

We even had the TV fireplace on to
add ambiance.

We read for two hours and it was simply delightful!
I think we'll keep this tradition around.

Cal's Christmas Concert

In addition to the performance at Christmas Village, Callie also had two assemblies scheduled at the school on 15 December. I say "scheduled" because it turned out that only the afternoon assembly concert happened. The district had a delay start that morning, which meant they had to cancel the concert, which we only found out about 5 minutes before we were about to leave home. Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard had come early for the morning concert, so they headed home for a couple of hours and came back in time for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Elwood before the afternoon concert. It all worked out, but it was tricky dealing with nerves for a little bit longer than expected!  We had tortellini soup and sourdough bread and cranberry salsa cream cheese dip together and then headed over to the school.

This concert was longer and more involved than the one at Christmas village. In addition to their Once Upon a Christmas, there were also some pieces from The Polar Express, complete with correagraphy for everything! There were also vocal, piano, violin, ukulele solos or duets by members of the choir interspersed between group numbers. It was quite a show! So fun to finally see it all together after hearing about it for months!

 

Christmas Village

Callie has been singing with the Valley Elementary Choir this fall. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:45 am in the school gym is practice and she has been to nearly every one! They've been working on Christmas songs since the beginning, with the plan to perform at Ogden's Christmas Village. 

Well, on December 6th, the day finally arrived. We decided to kick off the evening with dinner at La Ferrovia on 25th Street. Mmmm . . . pasta! Then we walked over to the park to explore the displays and ride the train and wait for the performance to start. Finally it was time for Cal to meet up with her choir onstage. Luckily, we found a spot next to the only working propane heater in the amphitheater (it was SO cold and the heat felt SO nice!). Heather and Terrell and Grace and Cooper got there right before they started singing, so it was fun to share the concert with them, too. 

They performed one piece called Once Upon a Christmas, which was a big medley of Christmas songs interspersed with speaking parts. Cal had one of them! She was a little disappointed that the director decided to use the full track they had used to learn the song, with recorded voices singing and speaking that the kids had to sing and speak over, rather than the minus track that was just the music. It was a little awkward to listen to. But it all worked out. And I loved watching my girl sing and dance and SMILE the whole way through. She rocked it!

After she was done singing, we wandered through the village with Heather's family, riding the train at least a couple more times, visiting Santa, eating cookies and enjoying the lights. It was cold, but it was fun, and the crowds were much less than in our past years' visits. It was a delightful time!

I cannot resist the tortellini at La Ferrovia!

First train ride. They had the whole thing to themselves
and that driver put the pedal to the metal. They were flying!

She's ready to entertain!

Hard to see, but that's Cal at the mic saying her part.

I think those are my kiddos smiling through the snowmen.

The kids loved this one because of the little
elf dressed up like a creeper in the corner.

I loved this icy delicate tree!

Cal loved the turquoise lights.

Train ride number two: with cousins!

I'm so glad they made the trek to hang out with us!

Train ride number three: everyone in the same car!

A visit to Santa, too!Cal said
she was too old for that sort of thing.
Both Sam and Grace
said they wanted Nintendo Switches. 

 

The Nutcracker

On Saturday, 3 December, we were treated to a delightful performance of The Nutcracker at the Peery's Egyptian Theatre in  Ogden with Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard and Heather. When Kim invited Callie and me to join her and Heather at the Nutcracker this Christmas season, I asked if we could add Sam and Gregg to the group, too, and then Grandpa didn't want to be left out. Sam had never seen the show and was so excited to be a part of the fun.  We spent some school time reading the story and learning about Tchaikovsky and his music and about ballet in general. Grandma even bought him a little toy nutcracker to mark the occasion. We all loved it. After it was over, we went to a late lunch/early dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Union Station to celebrate Heather's birthday. Such a fun outing to kick off December festivities!

 

Christmas Song-a-Day Countdown {2022 Edition}

I've been waiting for this day for a while now, and here we are at last! The lucky 13th year of my festive (and nerdy - oh yes, the spreadsheet is going strong!) Christmas music countdown! Isn't it amazing how many unique Christmas songs there are? I have only repeated a handful over these 13 years . . . and there are so many good, never-been-featured-here ones still to come!

Thanks again to my friend, Sarah, for creating and updating a youtube playlist every year. It's such an easy way to listen to all of the songs (and you can find all the old playlists here, for extra listening pleasure!)

Let's get started! Merry, merry!

(I will keep adding to this post every day, and even when I create other posts about our family happenings (ha. ha. I am way behind, but I hope this will be happening this month a bit more. ahem.), you should still be able to find this one at the top of the blog under the "featured post" heading. Let me know if it isn't showing up for you.)

1 December: Just the other day we were listening to a virtual Christmas concert while making dinner. The whole concert was great, but the kids and I especially loved when a bagpipe band played Little Drummer Boy. I love bagpipes! I love Little Drummer Boy! How have I never heard them put together?! It was so fun. And I just seems like the perfect way to kick off this month-long Christmas music celebration. (P.S. That link goes right to the pipes and drums in the middle of the concert, but while you're there you may enjoy listening to the whole thing!)

2 December: Here's a fun little throwback . . . to 2020. Remember when we watched Jimmy Fallon from his home and Dolly Parton was the hero of the year? Wow, it feels like a lifetime ago, that first covid Christmas. Gregg's dad, Paul, recommended this one last year after I had already filled my schedule, but I saved it for this year and it still makes me smile. Good entertainment!

3 December: We have a family date today with Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard and Aunty Heather to go see the Nutcracker at the Egyptian Theater in Ogden, and we're so excited! It's been a while since Cal and I have been, even longer for Gregg, and Sam has never seen it. We've been prepping by learning about Tchiakovsky's celesta and Hoffman's tale and Balanchine's choreography, about trailblazer ballerinas Maria Tallchief and Misty Copeland and Charlotte Nebres. (Homeschool for the win!) We've been listening to the music and reading plenty of versions of the story (check out the one from Jan Brett!). I think we're ready! It just seemed fitting to include something Nutcrackery in my countdown to mark the event. 

Then, we watched Elf one evening and the jazzy version of the Suite that plays while Buddy decorates the toy store at night got stuck in my head. All week. I did some searching and found it's by the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the whole song is quite fun. Have you heard the entire arrangement before? Or are you like me and only know the snippet from the movie?

4 December: We've been learning Good King Wenceslas in our morning time this week and I realized that the version I grew up with (good ol' Bing singing about the good ol' king) left out a couple of the verses and didn't give the whole story. So as we read this great picture book depicting the story and then listened to Jane Seymour telling her own version with the Tabernacle Choir, it really came alive for me this year. We learned that Wenceslas was a real king back in the 900s, and he really was good like they sing about. It's a perfect Christmas story of generosity and loving your neighbor and giving to others when you have been given so much. I just love it!

(Also: completely unrelated to Wenceslas, but related to Jane Seymour, we watched her (and her former co-star from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman days, Joe Lando!) in a Lifetime Christmas movie last night and dare I say it may have been the absolute cheesiest one I've ever seen and I loved every minute. Ha!)

5 December: Ah, Amy Grant. When I hear her voice it takes me back to my late elementary/early middle school years. My friend's mom used to make mix tapes with her friend and somehow I ended up with a couple copies of them. Amy Grant was always included and I came to love her voice and music. And there's no better time to listen to Amy Grant than at Christmas, I say! Here's one that she made famous, and that I happen to love, even if it's not a traditional Christmas song. (It's pretty traditional to me by now!)

6 December: Sam has been requesting to sing Joy to the World quite often in our morning time this month (he says he loves the bouncy part) and I can't blame him! It's one of my favorites (I know, I know . . . they're all my favorites). This version from Jim Brickman isn't super bouncy, but it is joyful. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy!

7 December: I don't have a whole lot to say about today's pick, other than I think it's fun (and this video makes me giggle). I love the backup singer parts most of all, even with how much I love Neil Diamond. Oooh wah oooh.

8 December: I don't know exactly what he's singing (I think something about shepherds?), but it doesn't even matter, because I just love David Archuleta's smile. I've loved him since Ky had his album and it was on rotation in our house, and I loved him when we got tickets to his concert with the Tabernacle Choir, and I still love him today.

9 December: Today's Jamaican Noel is just plain fun. I've never heard any other version of it, except by Voice Male, which was our family's favorite a capella group growing up.

10 December: I had never heard this song before last year when Heather introduced it to me. I just love the jazziness of the tune and the cleverness of the rhymes. They make it just The Merriest!

11 December: I first heard this rendition of Sussex Carol a few weeks ago on the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast and I loved it and added it to my list right away. I don't think I had ever heard it with words before (usually I listen to the Jon Schmidt piano solo version.) Today is the day to share it (both! bonus!) with you!

12 December: Today's song is a classic . . . sung by a classic voice. (Do you think that's really him whistling in the middle?) Gotta have something from Bing Crosby to make it feel like Christmas!

13 December: Just like I love Bing's voice at Christmas, I love Perry Como's voice at Christmas, too. (I may even like him better!) We've been learning God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen during Christmas school, and while it's not quite as favorite status as Good King Wenceslas, it's still been fun to sing and learn more of the words than I knew before.

14 December: Here's another classic Christmas voice, though more of an 80's classic than a 50's classic. :)  I don't know where I first heard him (I don't think it was actually Christmas music - maybe just on the oldies station) but when I finally heard some of his Christmas stuff, it just worked. Here's The Holly and the Ivy with some fun synthesizer to give a little Mannheim Steamroller vibe.

15 December: Today are Callie's choir concerts/assemblies at the school and some of the songs she has been learning come from The Polar Express, so we decided to feature one of those as today's song.

16 December: I love a little cool jazz, a la Vince Guaraldi, at Christmastime. But I also love the bigger-band sound of folks like Ella Fitzgerald. We've had quite a good string of snowy days and I'm happy for the blue sky shining through this morning. But when it's winter, the whiter, the better! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

17 December: Something I have loved loved loved about homeschool is singing with the kids at the start of our school day each morning. In December we, of course, have been singing a lot of Christmas songs, some we pick and some that our Christmas School guide has suggested for us (like Good King Wenceslas and God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen that I previously featured). I wasn't planning to include every song we've learned together, but this one has definitely woven its way into my heart. It's completely brand new to me, which is also delightful (there is so much to learn!). It's got a fun, joyful tune. And the lyrics just perfectly describe the Advent season of waiting and preparing for Jesus (I don't know why but I particularly love the idea of "trim the hearth and set the table" - it just makes me smile!). So, because I've enjoyed this one so much, I'm including another version. I love the first version with the choir and the organ and the candles in the church because it feels cozy and reminds me how much I love to sing about Christmas with a group. And the second version is really well done and includes more verses (and an Irish whistle!). I hope you love this one as much as I do. People, Look East!

18 December: Today's song, Children Go Where I Send Thee popped in my head during church this morning. I'm not exactly sure why, honestly. But I spent a minute remembering that we used to sing it in our Adams Elementary school Christmas sing-alongs. And then I thought, wow! We sang about Jesus in school! It didn't seem weird to me growing up, and it was a huge favorite at our caroling time in the lunch room/gym/auditorium when we were kids. I searched and searched youtube for the version with Audra McDonald and the Tabernacle Choir that I got to watch live in the Conference Center way back in 2004, and it just isn't available there for some reason (hence the spotify link above). But, because I'm on a real roll with bonus versions this year (it's my countdown and I can bend my rules whenever I want ;), I'm including this fun version from the Spelman College Glee Club (who I've never heard of until today in all my searching) just so we can have something on our youtube playlist. 

I realize the counting down parts are super similar in idea to The Twelve Days of Christmas (which I usually can't stand and you have never seen on my song-a-day list, but I have to admit I've listened to in its entirety more than once this December since my kids get a kick out of it, so I guess, never say never?) but somehow I love the technique in Children. What can I say? I'm complicated.

19 December: One of my favorite Primary Christmas songs is Stars Were Gleaming, but it's hard to find arrangements of that song. Turns out Infant Holy, Infant Lowly is the same tune, which is what I love most about the songs anyway, but this version actually sings the words to both Infant and Stars! And it's totally lovely.

20 December: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas sung by Frank Sinatra. I don't have anything more to say. Except now I'll be listening to Frank all day!

21 December: Can you believe I got this far into the month without including The Carpenters? I can't believe it either! But better late than never. (Fun fact from The Spreadsheet: I've included the Carpenters in every single countdown except 2015 (don't know what happened to me that year!) - they are definitely favorite status at Christmastime!)

22 December: Nat King Cole. Another one of those voices that just sings Christmas. And I just love Hark! The Herald Angels Sing when it's sung by almost anyone, so today is just a winner all around.

23 December: According to my spreadsheet, I believe The Lower Lights are my longest-running consecutive artist included in the countdown (besides the Tab Choir, of course). I love them. I've loved them since 2012, apparently. This one is a little more peaceful than some of their others. I love them all.

24 December: Last year, Voctave was the special guest artist(s) for the American Heritage Chorus and Orchestra (sometimes nicknamed the Logan Tabernacle Choir since it is led by Craig Jessop). My mom gets to play bells with the Westminster Bell Choir and they join the choir and orchestra during their big Christmas concerts. So she got to hear Voctave sing every evening for a weekend. She sent me this song to give me a taste of their talent, and I've held it in my back pocket for today. What a song! Happy Christmas Eve!

25 December: It's here at last! I've loved Laura Osnes's voice since I first heard it a few years ago during her Tabernacle Choir concert. It is as clear as a bell! Merry Christmas!!

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If you just can't wait for more, you could check out my previous countdowns here:  (I make no guarantees that the old links will still be working on these posts, but don't forget that Sarah has made playlists for all of them on youtube!)

2021

2020

2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2012 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2011 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2010 (I did a countdown on facebook, but didn't post it on the ol' blog my first year, but thanks to Sarah, she's resurrected it on youtube!)