"Thirty" Days of the Best Christmas Music!

This past month, I decided to run a "30 Days of Really Awesome Christmas Music" theme on my Facebook page. It was a ton of fun! I never reached the 30-day mark, being that I became distracted around Day #8 and decided afterward to scrap the whole thing.

But it was lots of fun while it lasted, and I wanted to share those first eight days with you! Enjoy!

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Day #1 - Sussex Carol! Give this one lots of volume to hear those beautiful bass pedals.



Day #2 - "Jesus Child" by John Rutter. One of our most beloved, and our 7yo's current favorite!

 


 Day #3 - "Here We Come A-Wassailing," performed by Canadian Brass. You haven't truly heard this song till you've heard it done by everyone's favorite brass group. Followed by a choral version. Enjoy!





Day #5 - "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent" - a gorgeous choral version of one of my favorite lesser-known Christmas hymns!





Day #6 - My favorite piece from "The Messiah" - "For Unto Us a Child is Born." Just lovely - enjoy!

Day #7 -


Day #7 - My favorite Christmas hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" - brought to us in a beautiful instrumental duet (with great video!) by The Piano Guys. Loved this. If you check out any of these songs, watch this one. I'm so addicted.





Day #8 - Another triumph by The Piano Guys... "Angels We Have Heard on High"! This is the kids' hands-down favorite this season, and we love it too. Why? Because music is just so much cooler when it's done by four guys attacking a piano, that's why! Definitely check out this awesomeness - you'll probably end up playing it as many times as we have today! (Which accounts for the fact that I may or may not be singing it in my sleep.)

After you've watched this one and become convinced of The Piano Guys' utter awesomeness, check out their Youtube page and spend the rest of your day (whether you want to or not!) watching their great videos! We love their Star Wars Duel of the Cellos.





Merry Christmas, everyone!

Goals for Christmas Break!

As usual, I've scheduled way too many goals and to-do items for Christmas Break. (Who doesn't?) However, I have learned these past few years to tone down my expectations. When there is a house full of young children, most of my life is going to devoted to their care, period. Meals, diapers, clean-up, baths, dishes, laundry, reading, etc. - it doesn't stop just because we're on break!

However, there's still quite a bit to get done, and I'm doing my best to make at least some progress!

Here is a partial list of goals for these few weeks:

• Write and print Christmas letter
• Get my Christmas cards out (ha ha ha ha ha!)
• Write quarterly homeschool progress reports 
• Write new quarterly goals sheet for children, self, and home
• Start curriculum planning for next year ("next year" = May 2014)
• Start chore-chart planning for next year
• Clear out homeschool notebook, print new pages as necessary
• Clear out school supplies
• Set up 2014 calendar
• Re-do recipe notebooks
• Revamp my meal-planning method, currently in a state of sad disarray
• Deal with CHRISTMAS - purchasing, planning, hosting guests, cooking, cards, cookies for neighbors, activities and crafts with the children - the whole bit! 

And now, dear friends - I'd better get busy!

Have a great day, everyone! 

Why I Love Having a Homeschool Schedule!

A month or two back, I wrote about finally figuring out a yearly homeschool schedule. I needed a schedule (that is, a plan of days-on and days-off) for many reasons, most of them having to do with my sanity, and now that we've gotten through an entire term using that schedule, I can say with finality (and enthusiasm):

I love having a schedule!

Seriously, this has been such a help. Knowing where we are in the term, and in the year, is so reassuring - and it helps so much to know exactly how we're doing in keeping up with our books. For example, by working extra hard in math, we have now caught up to where we should be - and having a schedule has let me know where we should be in the first place - instead of just hoping that we were where we ought to be! It's very comforting to know that we're on-track to finish - on schedule!

This past Friday we finished our fourth term of the year. We are using a schedule of six terms per year, each consisting of six weeks. Thus, we are two-thirds of the way through our school year. We will start up again after New Year's to finish our last two terms (with a week break in between), finishing in March. Then, after a six-week "summer," we'll start up the 2014-2015 school year in May.

Having a planned vacation was also such an improvement over my usual "I'm so burned out that I can't possibly do any more, so we are now on break!" method of vacations. With the former, our vacations were unplanned and largely wasted, and we went back feeling unrested and unready. This time, we were able to spend a week or two happily anticipating our break and celebrating our finish on Friday - and I was able to have outings and projects and crafts planned for our break, so that we're ready to go and have fun - rather than collapse in a heap.

I know that one can't strictly schedule life - because life has a bad habit of happening off-schedule. Babies happen, pregnancies happen, illnesses happen - the unexpected happens. And schedules will have to be re-done and rearranged. But for the present, I love having a predictable schedule that lets us know where we are in our year and in our studies, and which allows us to prepare joyfully for breaks and holidays. In our homeschool life, this is something that works - and something that we'll keep!

Next stop - long-term lesson plans. I haven't gotten there yet, but I know it's coming. Bring it on!

Surprised By Twins!

That would be fun, wouldn't it?

But... nope, not me.

Instead, these sweet babies belong to a local friend, who was shocked to learn that baby-number-next was, indeed, BABIES-number-next.

Her intense journey has already included emergency prenatal surgery for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, and these babies have a long way to go to reach the finish line. This family can definitely use your prayers!

Read the first part of the journey here:

Diary of an Identical Twin Pregnancy, Part 1

Lots of love and prayers to these sweet little ones and their family!

Cooking Through ENGLAND - Hot Cross Buns!

For Reformation Day, we made Hot Cross Buns - and they were terrific!

You can read about our adventures here - though unfortunately, we have no pictures of the actual buns themselves. Blogging FAIL!

And also, alas, I have no recipe link to share - because the recipe I used is apparently no longer in existence, and I'm too tired to type it out from my original print-out. HOWEVER, recipes for this delightful recipe are a dime a dozen, so do a quick Google search and go for it!

(Additionally, I felt that my recipe was a bit heavy on the yeast, so I'd like to find a new recipe myself. Let me know if you find a good one!)

Hot Cross Buns are traditionally served during Holy Week (the week preceding Easter). I always mean to do this but am usually too busy during Holy Week - so Reformation Day will have to do.

This song is on our Mother Goose CD and is well-known even in America:

“Hot Cross Buns!

Hot Cross Buns!

One ha’ penny, two ha’ penny,

Hot Cross Buns!

“If you have no daughters,

If you have no daughters,

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons!

“But if you have

None of these little elves

Then you must eat them all yourselves!”

This poem isn't as well-known, but looks like it's related to the first:

“Good Friday come this month, the old woman runs

With one or two a penny hot cross buns.”

Enjoy, friends!

Cooking Through ENGLAND: Wassail Punch!

I have mentioned that I'm on a blogging break, haven't I?

(In all seriousness, I am. On a break. Really. I just don't want to fall behind the have-to posts, so I'm stopping by briefly. Then I'll leave. Really.)

I was eager to try Wassail Punch, because I've never had it. I wasn't disappointed - it was lovely!! A delightful spiced apple cider, with lots of citrus overtones. Give it a try!

(This was a non-alcoholic version, so it may or may not be true to the actual historical version.)

English Wassail Punch 5 quarts of apple cider (I cheated and used part apple juice) 7 Tbsp. brown sugar 3 sliced oranges (I used two) 4 whole cloves (I used more)  1/4 tsp. each nutmeg and cinnamon 2 bananas, sliced In large kettle or crockpot, heat cider slowly with sugar, sliced oranges, and spices until it is almost at a boil. (I used a crockpot and slightly adjusted all of the ingredients, as it only held four quarts.) Pour into a punch bowl if desired (or just serve from kettle or crockpot) and slice bananas into it. Serve hot.

One funny note - I made this twice last week. On the second occasion, upon noticing that I had an extra apple cider spice packet on hand, I blithely tossed that in too. If a little spice is good, more is better, right? Only problem - I ended up with so many cloves in the cider that several unsuspecting guests ended up with somewhat numb mouths - a side-effect that I had never before heard of. 'Ware the cloves, people - 'ware the cloves.

But other than that - 

Enjoy!

As a side-note, make sure to check out the lovely Christmas songs that go along with this delightful drink! There is the well-known:

The Wassail Song (link to lyrics)

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

We are not daily beggers
That beg from door to door,
But we are neighbors' children
Whom you have seen before
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Good master and good mistress,
As you sit beside the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who wander in the mire.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year

We have a little purse
Made of ratching leather skin;
We want some of your small change
To line it well within.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Bring us out a table
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a cheese,
And of your Christmas loaf.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too;
And all the little children
That round the table go.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Here is a lovely instrumental version by everybody's favorite, Canadian Brass, followed by a great organ/handbells/voice version of the same:



And the lesser-known Gloucestershire Wassail - one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs:

The Gloucestershire Wassail (link to lyrics)

Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

Here's to our horse, and to his right ear,
God send our master a happy new year:
A happy new year as e'er he did see,
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek
Pray God send our master a good piece of beef
And a good piece of beef that may we all see
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

Here's to our mare, and to her right eye,
God send our mistress a good Christmas pie;
A good Christmas pie as e'er I did see,
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

So here is to Broad Mary and to her broad horn
May God send our master a good crop of corn
And a good crop of corn that may we all see
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

And here is to Fillpail and to her left ear
Pray God send our master a happy New Year
And a happy New Year as e'er he did see
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

Here's to our cow, and to her long tail,
God send our master us never may fail
Of a cup of good beer: I pray you draw near,
And our jolly wassail it's then you shall hear.

Come butler, come fill us a bowl of the best
Then we hope that your soul in heaven may rest
But if you do draw us a bowl of the small
Then down shall go butler, bowl and all.

Be here any maids? I suppose here be some;
Sure they will not let young men stand on the cold stone!
Sing hey O, maids! come trole back the pin,
And the fairest maid in the house let us all in.

Then here's to the maid in the lily white smock
Who tripped to the door and slipped back the lock
Who tripped to the door and pulled back the pin
For to let these jolly wassailers in.

Seriously, folks - is there anything about England that's NOT to love?

Enjoy!

Happy Reformation Day!

Just checking in quickly to bring you a fast "Happy Reformation Day" - because I'm not blogging, remember? I'm on a break. 

Really.

SO.... This year we participated in a small local event in honor of Reformation Day. We had so much fun!

Each family was asked to dress in costume, and each family took a booth to mimic a historical "shoppe" - for example, an apothecary's shop, etc. We took the bake shop!

(My husband told me that he was going as Scottish reformer John Knox. I asked, "How does going in street clothes qualify as dressing up as John Knox? Quoth he, "I have a beard. Therefore I am dressed as John Knox.")

The rest of us took similar trouble with our costumes. In all seriousness, getting ready for this event took a lot of time and effort - and costumes just took back seat. We dressed the 7yo in his Jedi outfit and called it a day. It's called historicity, people.

For our booth, we created a double-ended oven. Kids were given a ball of "dough" (playdough) to shape into a hot cross bun, then they put it in the oven to "bake", while I surreptitiously removed their playdough from the oven and put in its place a real hot cross bun, which they got to remove and then glaze.

It was a huge success. And not only did we have (most of) the kids fooled, but some of the parents also thought we had some sort of amazing Easy-Bake Oven going on!

The kids were all given money to spend at each of the shops, and they had a great time - though the 7yo was, as expected, totally disinterested in historical displays and preferred to spend his evening sword-fighting with the other boys. This was fine with us - there's time enough for interest in Old-World Europe!

Other highlights of the night included a potluck dinner and a narrated play-acting of the life of Martin Luther.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the hot cross buns. But they were delicious, and we totally sold out - even some of the adults came to buy! We even sold out the gluten-free and gluten/egg-free treats we brought along, so we went home with our inventory completely exhausted.

Here are some pictures! Local friends, this was a lot of fun if you're looking for a Reformation Day event!

We used this recipe for playdough, using artificial vanilla instead of peppermint extract. We learned an important lesson - NEVER make a 6x batch of playdough. It was nearly the end of us. 

 

I'll leave you with this extremely addictive little ditty in honor of Reformation Day. ENJOY!