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In past Decembers, I’ve felt a whole range of emotions, everything from disappointment to overwhelm to excitement to dread. Last year, I had a newborn baby and felt like I was just going through the motions in an overtired fog. But this year, I feel peace. All is calm, all is bright. That’s definitely not how you’d describe my house (so many little people talking at once! hah), but represents my heart. You never know what can happen in the future, so I’m trying to savor it. What a gift after a whirlwind year.
Day 11 // The Night of Las Posadas
Feliz Navidad! We kicked off our week of Mexican Christmas traditions by trying Mexican hot chocolate for the first time. There were varying responses from the kids: one loved, two thought it was just so-so, and two took a sip and declared it gross.
Day 12 // Our Lady of Guadalupe
We listened to the audio story on Formed as we made chocolate pretzel bites and then talked all about the amazing stories that go along with Juan Diego’s tilma. This Marian apparition is one of my favorites and I love learning a bit more about it each year.
Day 13 // The Legend of the Poinsettia
Another new story from Tomie dePaola for us this year and we loved it. Did you know that in Mexico, they call the flower “flor de la Nochebuena” (flower of the Holy Night), but we call it a poinsettia because of the man who brought it to the US? We made our own poinsettias using coffee filters and watercolor paint. They turned out so cute.
Day 14 // Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia
How we love that that crazy Amelia Bedelia!
We wrapped up Mexico by baking Mexican snowball cookies. The recipe I picked from Pinterest was just okay, but after help from friends on Instagram (thanks so much, Stephanie and Jackie!!), I’ll be trying these next:
+ Stephanie’s version (scroll to the last photo – she said her family has been using this for years)
+ Smitten Kitchen version
Day 15 // Christmas Cookies
I’m sure you can guess what we’re up to tonight after Dad gets home from work? This sugarholic and her little minions are going to need a detox come January. 🙂
Other things to note:
+ Last Sunday, I made homemade gingerbread for the first time using this recipe. It was SO delicious and easy to make. I’ll never go back to the hard-as-rock store-bought version again.
+ Our read aloud this week was Truce, a narrative about how troops in World War I would defy the commanding officers by stopping and celebrating Christmas with their “enemies.” Some of the pictures were a little graphic for little ones (dead horses or soldiers laying on the ground), so I just skipped showing those pages as I read. Lots of good conversation about propaganda, how man’s greed and hunger for power affected millions of others and how war isn’t as “cool” as it sounds. M will be studying WWI after Christmas break and this was a great introduction.
+ I wasn’t on the ball and didn’t find tickets for the live version, so we watched The Nutcracker on Amazon. The boys were skeptical, but watched anyway. Sophie really enjoyed it and ran to get her leotard and tiara before it even ended. I think it’s a Christmas time staple!
The blog looks great! I always itch to change mine up way too frequently. 🙂 And thank you for telling me about the Nutcracker on Amazon. I've been wondering if I could get my hands on a copy but thank goodness for Amazon Prime. My 3 year old always-princess will be *ecstatic*.
I think I've had the same theme for almost four years and it definitely was time.
And the Nutcracker – YES! Sophia has been obsessed ever since.
Gosh, you have the best pictures. Blog looks great too! Wanna make mine pretty too?? Jk. I really need to work on mine though…
Seriously look into 17th Avenue Designs: https://www.etsy.com/shop/17thAvenueDesigns So easy to install and tweak. Worth the small investment for sure!
I love the new blog design! And I especially love all the Spanish-speaking culture focus for this week in your learning 🙂 La Virgin de Guadalupe is one of my favorite stories too! Thank you for the share of the gingerbread recipe – I have never been a fan of the hard store bought either and it has all had me skipping the gingerbread part of Christmas…but maybe this new recipe will inspire me to give it another chance!
Thank you! I think we both have themes from the same designer – 17th Avenue Designs? I'm loving it!
And yessss about gingerbread – I was always ehhh about it but was sick of spending money on things that we decorated and then just threw away. These are so good fresh and with a cup of hot coffee.
Ashley, have you ever tried any of the Essentrics or Classical Stretch workouts? I own several of their DVDs and love them. There are a few mini-workouts on YouTube. Here is a link for a four minute Hip pain relief stretch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcBnjYv9gUY
I haven't! Thank you so much for the link.