SpringSnowflakes: December 2023

Monday, December 25, 2023

Kawanzaa

This is our second year acknowledging Kawanzaa. Barron coloured our drawn candles and we imagined lightening them.

Christmas Day Game 15

Chiefs played the Las Vegas Raiders today and Chiefs Lost 14-20.

Las Vegas is in Nevada. Source: https://ontheworldmap.com/usa/city/las-vegas/

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Chiefs Game 14

The Chiefs played the New England Patriots and the Chiefs win 27-17.

The New England Patriots are from Boston Massachusetts: https://ontheworldmap.com/usa/state/massachusetts/massachusetts-location-on-the-us-map.html

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

On the 12th Day of Xmas We Read To Thee

Barron and I decided, for the second year, to continue our festive read of digital books that we read or listen to together.

On December 12 we enjoyed A World of Cookies For Santa (Follow Santa's Tasty Trip Around the World) By M.E. Furman and Illustrated by Susan Gal.

December 13 we read Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter By Kenard Pak.

December 14 we shared Home Alone By John Hughes/Directed By Chris Columbus Illustrated by Kim Smith.

December 15 we enjoyed Home Alone 2 Lost in New York By John Hughes/Directed By Chris Columbus and Illustrated By Kim Smith.

December 16 we read Elf By David Berenbaun Illustrated By Kim Smith.

December 17 we dived into Construction Site on Christmas Night by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Ag Ford.

December 18 we discovered Little Reindeer Saves Christmas By Igloo Books.

December 19 we found joy in The Berenstain Bears Go Christmas Caroling By Mike Berenstain.

December 20 we jumped into The Nifht Before Christmas by Igloo Books.

December 21 we uncovered Frosty The Snowmsn by Diane Muldrow Illustrated By Robin Cuddy and Josie Lee.

December 22 we found A Christmas Star By Igloo Books.

December 23 we

December 24 we

December 25 we

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Today is St. Lucia Day where the eldest girl in the family wears a beautiful robe tied with red ribbon and a wreath full of candles and offers warm beverages and ginger flavoured treats. We decided to make a star hat and star wands inspired by https://www.justcraftyenough.com/2012/12/santa-lucia-and-star-boy-ornaments/ and https://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/st.-lucia-day-star-hat-lesson-plan/

Origami Tree

https://www.justcraftyenough.com/2012/12/santa-lucia-and-star-boy-ornaments/

https://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/st.-lucia-day-star-hat-lesson-plan/

Something wonderful to us, the persistence: https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/origami-holiday-tree

The theme of this year’s 13-foot tree is Proboscideans on Parade, featuring garlands and origami models inspired by the new exhibition The Secret World of Elephants.

Among the more than 1,000 origami pieces decorating the tree will be intricately designed models of elephants and elephant relatives, including the wooly mammoth, as well as those depicting iconic Museum exhibits like the Blue Whale and Tyrannosaurus rex.

Produced in partnership with OrigamiUSA, the Origami Holiday Tree is delightfully decorated with hand-folded paper models created by local, national, and international origami artists.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Chiefs Game 13

Today the Chiefs played the Buffalo Bills and the Chiefs lost 20-17.

The Buffalo Bills are from New York State: https://ontheworldmap.com/usa/state/new-york/new-york-location-on-the-us-map.html

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Hannukkah

Today 8 fun nights of celebration begins. We are doing our best at our first Hannukkah, last year we tried some days to rejoyce however not all of them. Although we do not have a menorah, traditionally used in a temple, we found this video very helpful about lighting and placing the candles: https://youtu.be/0NAn2JZjtEk?si=_Xb7xDNJZy_8nAd5

Being without inspired us to create our own so we made this menorah on paper and Barron colours in the flame each day.

Apparently the item I have been referring to as a menorah is actually called a hanukkiah: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Ze1TtPvIVfo

Dad's phone has space so we are celebrating with a virtual menorah instead:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Picture did not capture properly.

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

Day 8:

On the first evening we celebrated with traditional gifts and a special meal and we played dreidel:

On the second evening Barron was gifted some books:

On the third evening Barron recieved some games:

On the fourth evening barron was given a practical gift which was a compass:

On the fifth evening we had a family gathering Barron and I had an afternoon of watching movies and playing movie bingo as well as eating some Kraft Dinner:

On the sixth evening we talked about giving to

On the seventh evening we made some handmade gifts that we will share with:

On the eighth evening we had some traditional food:

The most lovely community in Toronto called The Beaches was where we saw a giant menorah and this video showed how the rabbi lite it up:

Each part of the dridel has a hebrew letter and the hebrew word for Hannukah means dedication:

These images came from a neat app called:

If you would enjoy a video demonastration, cannot think of a more lovely duo than marshmellow and Wengie to educate: https://youtu.be/GaOuEpeEOpQ?si=xRKhxBo_7AVdSe2j

https://jewish.momsandcrafters.com/hanukkah-suncatchers/

The dreidel comes with five letters – choose one. The letters of the dreidel are nun, gimmel, hey and shin. In Israel, the shin is replaced with a pey so I included that too. Source: https://jewish.momsandcrafters.com/hanukkah-suncatchers/