Water Colors and Eating by herself

Adelaide and Jai

Farmer in the Dell

Dog takes Cat -Hei ho the dairy-o the dog takes cat

Cat takes a Rat, the cat takes a rat - hei ho the dairy -o the cat takes a rat

Cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone, hei -ho the dairy- o the cheese stands alone!

YAY!!!

Christmas 2010

Christmas was amazing this year. We did several things that will be traditional in our family, and it was so special to see Adelaide respond. She was so excited about everything, and loved every minute of it. I am going to write a different post about our Nativity Scene, because I think that was one of the best parts, but here is a picture from the night before Christmas when the 3 wise men finally made it to the Stable, so everyone was there except for the baby. We were all waiting for Christmas morning when he could be added to the party. Next Adelaide put out cookies for Santa, and an apple for Rudolph. I told her to put them somewhere that Santa would see them, and she decided right on the chair would be good. Here she is in her new jammies that she got to open earlier in the evening.

Then we read The Night Before Christmas (for the 100th time this month). Adelaide really loves this book, especially because her Granny got her a beautiful book with cut outs and pop ups!

Here is Adelaide's stocking all full.
And all of the gifts for her waiting under the tree.
First open - Toy Story!
A bunch of books from her Great Grandmother Eileen! She loved them and sat and looked through EVERY SINGLE ONE before doing anything else. She really LOVES books.
Another beautiful book from Aunt Jamie
Granny and Grandpa Jerry got her a frog towel which she wore for quite some time.

Nativity

I got this idea from a book called "Heaven on Earth- a handbook for parents of young children" by Sharifa Oppenheimer. It's my absolute favorite parenting book, based on Waldorf philosophy, and so full of great ideas for festivals and traditions. We also do a night time prayer from the book. I will have to write a post about that another time, because it is one of the most special times of the day.

I wasn't expecting to get to do the Nativity scene this year because I didn't have one! I was not raised to be religious, and we never had one growing up. I am not religious, but I AM spiritual, and something about this tradition really struck me. I know it is something that we will do every year. And the best part is that my "mama bird" Lisa GOT me a Nativity Set for my birthday!!! It arrived about a week before Christmas. Usually this tradition is done throughout the month of December, with something added to the Scene every week. This year we shortened it and added something every day. It still worked to build anticipation and was SO BEAUTIFUL!

The book says that we can use this as a way to celebrate the return of the Light. The best way for a small child to understand this concept is by the birth of a baby. It also celebrates our own children in a way, because they so recently were born as well. It says that this is a "way to honor humanity's place in the natural order of life" It also states that "This slow building toward a subtle event, the coming of the Child, can act as an antidote to the societal pressures that bombard us at this time." I'm not sure if this is the usual way that the Nativity is used or not, but I really loved it. Here is our version....

Night 1-
I guess you aren't supposed to put the Stable out yet - but I didn't realize that! The first night was to recognize the "mineral kingdom" To do this we put some pretty rocks that we have collected, some of Myles seashells, a crystal that I have had for as long as I can remember, a stone bracelet that I have, and our big crystal candle holder. One the first night (usually first week we lit one candle).

Night 2 - next is the "plant kingdom". We added a plant behind, and also made little trees out of small branches that had fallen from our tree outside stuck in clay. This is also a great night (week) to put up your tree! We lit two candles.
Night 3 - I forgot to take a picture of night 3, but it's the "animal kingdom". This is when you are supposed to add the stable. We added all of the animals, plus another wooden donkey that we got in Costa Rica. This is also a good night to hang up your pet's stockings! We lit 3 candles.

Night 4 - This is the "human kingdom". The night before Christmas we added all of the people except for the baby. Also - the whole time the 3 wise men were making their long journey to the stable. They started on night 1 in our kitchen window on the other side of the house, and every night got a little bit closer, until tonight when they arrived. If you are doing this by the week, they can start their journey at the beginning of the week and arrive on this night, or however you want to do it. It's a great time to talk about the long journey that they had to make it to be with the baby. We lit 4 candles.

Here is a video of Adelaide blowing out the candles on Christmas Eve. She was really into waving the smoke away!

And then on Christmas morning Adelaide finally got to put the baby in the manger (we actually used a little seashell instead! She had been waiting for that the whole week. It was very special. You then light 4 candles AND a very special Christmas candle as well. We forgot the special Christmas candle, but will be sure to find a good one before next year!
This is probably really annoying to those who ARE religious and have specific meaning and use of these things. I would love to hear other versions of the tradition, or other ideas to add to our own special traditions!

All of our greetings!!!

Zoo Lights (woops!)

We went to Zoo Lights on Christmas eve. Big mistake on my part - I swear the email they sent said that they DO have the lights on for Christmas eve...but I must have read wrong. We were the only ones at the zoo, and there were no lights. There weren't even animals. We saw the sealions, and everyone else was put away somewhere. It didn't really matter though because the whole time Adelaide just kept talking about how she wanted to go see the bear at the entrance - and thank goodness he was available!

Peacock Lane

We took a walk down Peacock Lane, where every house is decorated in Christmas lights. It was very crowded, but fun for Adelaide. A good way to see a lot of lights in one place =)

Making Cookies

Our offical Christmas Photo's

We took these of ourselves. Such dorks I know!!!

Santa Land

This holiday season has been so fun. Adelaide LOVES all of the Christmas songs. Her favorites are Frosty the snowman and Rudolph right now, but she likes them all. I found my old Chipmunks Christmas tape and that is the ONLY thing she will allow me to listen to in the car. It's cute, and getting a bit obnoxious as well. Anyway, we took her to Santa Land again in hopes that she would want to tell Santa what she wants for Christmas. It was a Sunday so the lines were long, but we were able to get close enough for her to see him and decide that she did NOT want to sit on his lap, or go anywhere near him for that matter. So instead we just walked around and looked at all of the elves and reindeer. It looked just as it did last year, but feels so magical and really gets you in the mood for the holidays. We had fun looking at all of the ornaments on the trees that they are selling. She really likes the "little Santa Claus" ornaments and decorations. It's just the "really really big Santa Claus" that she thinks is "really really scary". Who can blame her though right? Maybe next year she will change her mind, but for now we are fine keeping our distance.

Christmas music box from Granny

Fun with friends