Such a short time, this fourth week of Advent, this year! Therefore, here are just a few very simple ideas for this special time:
Read the story of “The Greedy Woman” from “Hark! A Christmas Sampler” by Jane Yolen and Tomie dePaola. This tale is best suited for ages 7 and up.
Here is another tale to try, this one is regarding Saint Francis and the first Christmas at Greccio: http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=smithe&book=christmas&story=greccio. This would be a lovely story for eight year olds in the midst of second grade on up.
Make Gingerbread People. Here is Martha Stewart’s gingerbread recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/336115/gingerbread-people
And, on Christmas Eve Day, won’t you consider making several stars to light the way of the Christ Child? Here is a wonderful tutorial from Sarah Baldwin of Bella Luna Toys:
http://blog.bellalunatoys.com/2012/how-to-make-waldorf-paper-window-stars.html
Some countries also use this day to commemorate “Adam and Eve” and place red apples in the branches of their Christmas tree in order to remember. Bread decorations are also sometimes made and used as a sign of redemption.
And here is the “To Do Ahead!”
Will you consider for a moment the flow of Christmas Day? What will you do with the children and how will things be held for them as you cook for example? Will there be time to go outside and play, will there be any crafts available for the children to work on? Just a thought to make your day less hectic in the moment.
We will look towards the adult work of The Twelve Holy Nights tomorrow; in the meantime for the children you can start gathering up resources for Epiphany or if you are Orthodox Christian, Theophany. La Befana in Italy and The Baboushka in Russia are well-associated with Epiphany. Here is a free story from Russian Legend: http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=smithe&book=christmas&story=babouscka
Also, for more ideas for Epiphany, I suggest you look at Little Acorn Learning’s e-book: http://littleacornlearning.com/threekingsthemebook.html . This book focuses on the Three Kings; I would appreciate my Orthodox readers leaving me some crafting and idea resources for Theophany in the comment box! I didn’t find much when I searched on the Internet.
Many blessings, enjoy this special time of the year,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
Oh Carrie,
What do you do when you’re sick in all this? I’ve a 5 year old just raring to go outside, and a husband who is up in arms because he doesn’t want him sick again! I haven’t clothes to go outside for a long time (haven’t a voice either ; )
Such nice ideas, will keep them in mind for later in the week and next year.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Michele,
A huge wave of sickness has swept through our homeschool group as well…even down to pneumonia and the flu! I think so many of these little things can be done in small spurts over a day with small children about who may not have the endurance to do a whole day of something…make the dough for cookies in the morning, after tea and lunch and nap, roll the cookies out (just a small portion of the dough, not the whole thing)..
Rest is really important, so if your little one has been only well for a day or two, it can be demanding to come up with little things to entertain a five year old inside, but it can be worth it to have a few days to recover fully. 🙂
Many blessings to you and your family!
Carrie
Hello Michele,
We once had a year where everybody was sick. We simply postponed Christmas! We first got all healthy again and then we had a wonderful celebration.
Eva
Hello Carrie,
I don’t like it when there is basically no fourth week of Advent. In our family Christmas happens on the 24th (putting up the tree, lighting the candles on it — we use real candles –, and opening presents. There is also a children’s Mass and a Latin midnight Mass. So we go from the fourth Sunday of Advent right to Christmas. Not my favorite way of doing it, but there will be other years with more space in between :).
Eva, I feel the same way! We are putting our Christmas tree up today, and I love that you do it the German way 🙂
Love to you this Christmas!
Carrie
Theophany is the time of the Great Blessing of the Waters for Orthodox churches, so it’s nice to decorate a jar for holy water to carry home after it’s been blessed. We like to cut out icons from catalogs and modge podge them onto the glass. It’s Jan 2 for those of us on the new calendar. After this date and before Pascha is the annual blessing of homes by the priest of all members of the parish, so it’s a good time to start spring cleaning! 🙂 Many people take the opportunity of house blessing to have an open house for fellow parish members or to have the priest and his family for dinner.
Kyrie,
Thank you so much! I knew you would have words of wisdom to share. 🙂 I also thank you for educating me, because I always thought Epiphany and Theophany usually fell on January 6th and didn’t realize it was really coming up so soon!
Many blessings and love!
Carrie
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