'Maybe Christmas,' he thought, 'doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!'

Nativity by Tintoretto (c.1550-1570)

We're in the middle our terms' work and I wanted to continue our regular schedule  in the lead up to Christmas but also allow room for celebrating Advent & preparing for Christmas. So what I've done is to stretch out a week's work into one and a half to two weeks. I do this from time to time if I need to fit in extra things that I think are important or if we've had a lot of interruptions.

As in previous years I've adapted music appreciation, poetry, folk songs, picture study and handicrafts to the season and this year I'm reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens aloud and will also have some other Christmas books on hand for free reading.

We were reading of Scrooge's encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol this week. In Dickens' allegorical story the Ghost takes heartless old Scrooge back to the long forgotten scenes of his boyhood days:

'The school is not quite deserted, said the Ghost. 'A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.'

They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the hall, to a door at the back of the house. It opened before them, and disclosed a long, bare, melancholy room, made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and desks. At one of these a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire; and Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be.

I've read Dickens' book before so I know the ending. It's really a story of Redemption.

Scrooge is a grotty, detestable & wicked old man who cares for no one and deserves nothing but judgement...but the unbelievable happens and Scrooge is transformed. Dickens' story illuminates what is at the heart of Christmas:

"The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:9

We're listening to this folk song again this year. It really does capture the joy and Good News of Christmas.

This year we're listening to the full version of Handel's Messiah. In the past we've used excerpts but Cindy's Handel's Messiah Schedule for Advent has made it easy to fit in. Just 6 to 10 minutes a day in the lead up to Christmas is very do-able and if you haven't started it yet there's still time. A few of the pieces are very short so you could easily fit two into a week and get it done.

I didn't think I had a full recording so we started off using this one on YouTube.

Then I discovered a secondhand CD I'd bought a few months ago and realised it was the version Cindy used on her schedule so we got that out only to find that instead of two CD's there was only one, so I'll be going back to YouTube for the second half. Just as well I only paid a dollar for it.

The approximate time for each section is included in Cindy's post, but an outline of the different parts is here which might be helpful and the text used by the singers is here.

The Story of Holly & Ivy by Rumer Godden

C.S. Lewis famously wrote that he was 'almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children's story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children's story.'
I didn't read this book when I was a child but I thought it was just lovely when I read it for the first time as an adult.

If you have a little girl (or a little boy) don't miss this book. If you're an older girl, like me :) don't miss it either.

Around the age of six and up would be a good time to give it to someone or it could be read aloud to a younger child - if you don't mind having a cry while you're reading. The edition below is 57 pages long with charcoal illustrations throughout but the book was first published in 1958 and there have been numerous versions, including one illustrated by Barbara Cooney.

Like teddy bears, the dolls held out their arms. Toys, of course, think the opposite way to you. 'We shall have a little boy or girl for Christmas,' said the toys.

The toys knew what homes were like from the broken dolls who came to the shop to be mended.

'There are warm fires and lights,' said the dolls, 'rooms filled with lively things. We feel children's hands.'

'Bah! Children's hands are rough,' said the big toy owl who sat perched on a pretend branch below the dolls. 'They are rough. They can squeeze.'

'I want to be squeezed,' said a little elephant.

The toys thought that all children have homes, but all children have not.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst."

1 Timothy 1:15

Advent Favourites

The weeks prior to Christmas are generally full and we've been finding it more so as our children get older and they get involved in different things and take on other responsibilities. Keeping things simple is the only way we get to regular Advent devotions. For our children who are still homeschooled I get in art, music and poetry relating to Christmas during the day and we get to do some cooking and sometimes make gifts. In the evenings we do Advent devotions as a family (with whoever happens to be home for dinner) and use the Advent calendar I made to count down the days until Christmas Day.

Annunciation (detail) by Fra Filippo Lippi c.1448-1450

Good Christmas music is very helpful for creating an 'Advent atmosphere' and if you could do nothing else but play some beautiful carols each day, you'd still go a long way to bring this atmosphere about .

This is my favourite album of traditional Christmas Carols. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any youtube versions of any of these but you can have a listen to excerpts here or here.
We Three Kings and What Child is This? are so beautifully done on this album. I put this music on and let it permeate through the house...magnificent!

I knew of this poem by Christina Rossetti but didn't realise until recently that it had been put to music. I like both versions. The first one is more acoustic and simpler; the second by Jars of Clay is the one my children like best.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Madonna and Child with Two Angels (detail) by Fra Filippo Lippi 1455

The Burning Babe
By Robert Southwell, 1595

As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear;
Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed
As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.
Alas, quoth he, but newly born in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;
The fuel justice layeth on, and mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defiled souls,
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.
With this he vanished out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day. 

This song always makes me cry:

A Christmas Carol by G.A. Chesterton (1900)

The Christ-child lay on Mary’s lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary were the world,
But here is all aright.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary’s breast
His hair was like a star.
(O stern and cunning are the kings,
But here the true hearts are.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary’s heart,
His hair was like a fire.
(O weary, weary is the world,
But here the world’s desire.)

The Christ-child stood on Mary’s knee,
His hair was like a crown,
And all the flowers looked up at Him,
And all the stars looked down.

A birthday cake

Madonna and Child by Fra Filippo Lippi 1440-1445

Advent Devotionals


Desiring God has a free Advent devotional to download. This was for written for 2012 when the first Sunday of Advent was the 2nd of December. This year Advent begins on the 1st December so just start it a day earlier. This is suitable for family reading; the readings are quite short although it would go over the heads of young children.
There's an interesting appendix about Old Testament shadows and the coming of Christ.
I mentioned this in a previous post but Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper (a book on traditions generally, with chapters for Christmas & Advent also) is also at this site and the free pdf can be downloaded here.

Advent Readings for the Very Young is a free easy to follow resource written by a couple for their children. You can see it here. It's lovely & very simple.

Another Advent devotional suitable for family reading is this small hardback book: Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room by Nancy Guthrie. Brandy mentioned this somewhere on her blog but I don't remember where.

I like something simple and do-able for Advent devotions. Apart from the busyness of Christmas we have a few birthdays at this time of the year in our family, including one on Christmas Day, and our church activities swell into the bargain so it becomes hard to do anything consistently. This little book is just pick up and go. The readings start on the 1st December and there is a reading for each day in December. They are short but have depth and suit a variety of ages and I like the discussion starters and insights to some Christmas Carols the author includes. I appreciate anything that helps to direct us to the reason for the season and both these devotionals do that.

A better look at the contents is here at Koorong. They also have it as a download for a few dollars.


A Renaissance Christmas published by The National Gallery of Art is a collection of Renaissance art works with accompanying texts from the King James Bible and poetry selections by poets from that era such as John Donne and Robert Southwell (whose poem, The Burning Babe I included above).

The Glorious Impossible by Madeleine L'Engle is a beautiful book displaying the art of Giotto's frescoes from the Scrovegni Chapel. I use this for the art work and stick to the Biblical account of the nativity.

Look inside the book here.

Craft Ideas

Bread dough basket: The instructions are from an out of print book I picked up at a library sale a few years ago, Homemade by Kay Fairfax. It contains a wide range of useful items that can be made easily at home, including edibles, and some good ideas for gifts.

 

Salt dough decorations - this link will take you to a free download of salt dough recipes.
Page 31 has instructions on how to make Christmas decorations using salt dough and pages 38 & 39 show how to make a nativity scene.

Over the years my girls in particular have made many Christmas presents for family and friends. I really enjoy reading about families who do this sort of thing and I like to encourage an outward looking attitude especially when the prevailing culture is gimme gimme gimme. The Little House books, Little Women and this book below are some that come to mind.

With Maria's help, the children threw themselves into making presents and decorations for Christmas. There was hammering and sawing and gluing, painting, sewing and writing going on behind closed doors all over the house all day long. In the evenings the children would gather together to practise carols. 

The Trapp Family Book by Hans Wilhelm

Other ways we've tried to encourage thoughtfulness and looking outward at this time of the year is to allow opportunities for service. Some things we've done in the last couple of years have been: concerts at nursing homes; helping to run Christmas Carols in the Park; Christmas Flash Mob - this was so much fun. We turned up at our local shopping mall and sang carols for the hordes out frantically buying last minute gifts. A group of about forty people unexpectedly starting to sing Oh Holy Night! brought a real sense of His presence and peace to the place; inviting singles and others to share in a family meal on Christmas Day.

Through the years You've made it clear,
That the time of Christ was near,
Though the people couldn't see
What Messiah ought to be.
Though Your Word contained the plan,
They just could not understand
Your most awesome work was done
Through the frailty of Your Son.
El Shaddai, El Shaddai,
El-Elyon na Adonai,
Age to age You're still the same,
By the power of the name.
El Shaddai, El Shaddai,
Erkamka na Adonai,
I will praise and lift You high,
El Shaddai.