Advent : Day 2

Kind old man,

St. Nicholas dear,

Come to our house this year.

Here's some straw

and here's some hay

For your little donkey grey.

~Wynstone's "Winter"

Day 2 of Advent brought some lovely activities. We had family visiting us from Washington so today was a light day. I had scheduled a *break* from our normal schooling during the entire month of December. We will still be holding our schooling during the week, but we've decided to focus on the importance of the holiday season and partaking in the many activities during this special time of year.

This week, we are doing a Main Lesson Block on St. Nicholas. I had visited a lovely site about St. Nicholas in the past, but had not gone through it in detail. However, thanks to yet another great post by Jenn over at Our Little Nature Nest, we now have our stories all lined up this week! She recommended several that are Waldorf inspired or written by Waldorf teachers that we will be using until we celebrate St. Nick's special day.

The first story I told during lunch after our company left can be found here. It tells how the Bishop Nicholas traveled by sea for seven days and seven nights just to feed hungry children, by leaving them apples and nuts, wheat and honey cakes.

We snacked on the apples and nuts while we prepared the batter for some yummy "Ciastka Miodow" Polish honey cake cookies that we will be eating tomorrow in celebration, though we modify the ingredients so they are vegan. The recipe can be found here, third one down.

For our Advent reading tonight, I chose the first Christmas story from the book by Irene Johanson entitled, "Stories for the Festivals of the Year". It can be found at Bob & Nancy's.

The first story is entitled, "The Donkey's Secret" and it is about the Annunciation and how the donkey was able to see and listen to an Angel, even when Joseph could not. The angel praises the donkey and reveals a secret to him about the upcoming birth of the Christ child.

Finally, I needle felted a St. Nicholas figure to accompany our stories of him this week. We are still in the midst of decorating our house and tree and are enjoying snuggling up together to read the myriad of holiday books we have collected through the years. I hope to post about them as we continue daily with this blog.

Enjoy the last day of November 2009! Tomorrow we begin the Advent calendars which is always fun. I also hope to share a special new tradition we are partaking in this year. Blessings to you all!