Christmas At Mom's

What a weather change from the snow in Richmond. There's actually stuff blooming down here in Savannah, Georgia. It was a very warm Christmas Day. The boys spend Christmas with their Dad every other year. Christmas morning without children was a bit strange, but it was still a lovely day. Brent gave me two beautiful books, New Zealand Landscapes by Andris Apse - gorgeous, gorgeous potography & The World Of Wearable Art by World of Wearable Art (2009) - creativity at its best! I framed a black & white picture I had taken of his daughter when I visited him a few months ago. He loved it.

My brother holding the turkey that my Dad deep-fried on the porch. Very yummy. We had stuffing, German Kloesse, veggies & gravy with it. The sherry-soaked trifle Brent made was so good, too.

Downtown Savannah. Just so pretty. I love the old houses and the tiny city gardens hiding behind iron gates.

River Street there on the left & a pretty ole house in one of the downtown squares.

It seems I have an affinity for taking pictures with wreaths in them.

The Awesomerest Sled

Notice the similarities? A boogie board for all occasions, I say. We got about 12" of snow in a 24 hours period. That's pretty unusual for Virginia at this time of the year. Nathan wanted to go sledding at Forest Hill Park - the thing to do in our neighborhood when snow falls in Richmond. In his ideal world, he would have had some awesome monster-speedy sled. I suggested using the lid of a storage box. He wasn't thrilled. Then the boogie board from our time at Myrtle Beach came to mind. He warmed up to the idea rather quickly. Voila! A sled. Funny thing was that when we got to the park, there actually were people sledding on storage box lids, in trash can lids, even in inflatable rafts & rooftop cargo carriers. Crazy. Cold. Fun.

P.S. I do know that awesomerest is not a real word!

Our Lil' Tree

Before gingerbread men (ehmmm... boys) & mistletoe. Without a cloth at the bottom. I'm thinking I'll just get some Christmas-y printed yardage at the fabric store to wrap around the base. It's the first year we have electric lights. The boys requested them. We've traditionally had candles. Brent brought some of his ornaments, too. Now, I have this antique bird that is actually an ornament from my grandmother & Brent just happened to bring one just like it! What were the chances of that?

After decorating it, we watched Chevy's Chase's "Christmas Vacation." So funny.

Jamestown Settlement

Just some small impressions from our trip to Jamestown Settlement. The crafty me learned how to twist a rope. I really liked how they brought together the customs of the Native Americans, the Africans & the English.

Christmas Crazies & Goodies

On Friday we drove around town to see Christmas lights. There are a few places where people go way crazy - crazy in an awesome kind of way. I like this picture I snapped. Could be a Christmas card, huh? It's on Wendhurst Drive here in Richmond. Illumination extraordinaire! :-)

The boys spent some time baking this morning for the bonfire cookie exchange we're invited to this afternoon. Yummy cookies. I decided on this recipe. We used some homemade peach jam.

Milo Vest

This Milo is such a great pattern. I omitted the cable because I just like the hues of this yarn and how they flow together. My cast-off was a bit too elastic. Just so sweet, though.

Head, Heart-N-Hands Thursday

I'm trying to find a balance between personal stories, craftiness & Waldorf-education related posts on this blog. I've come to love the idea of "WIP Wednesday," although Wednesday often passes me by. I'm going to start "Head, Heart-N-Hands Thursday," hoping to post impressions of bookwork across the grades as well as samples of practical work, recitations & songs. - It is never intended as something to be copied, but I know many take inspiration from it & I have often found such a peek into the classroom a helpful thing for the growth of my own ideas.

Below are some impressions of 2nd grade bookwork. They are of Saint Gall, or Caillech - his Irish name. They were essentially free drawings, although the children did receive some guidelines as to what should be in the picture. You can see the wide spectrum of the work 2nd graders do. Most importantly they loved the story and they were really into doing the bookwork!