Christmas School (2)

It's the times when I want to do something a bit different that I realise how much we already do and how much life gets in the way of my agenda. This afternoon we got back to Christmas School, after puppy class, swimming lessons, visiting a lady with horses to see if we would like to commit to being weekly pony helpers and a trip to the vets. To save time and sanity, I whipped up some gingerbread dough without the children's help and, after lunch, the children had fun cookie-cutting. After baking and decorating we sat down with mugs of tea and Christmas books and our advent candle.

We began with Betjeman's 'Christmas' - a poem I remember my mother loving and reading to me as a child. The words and rhythm are beautiful and as I have grown up the words have deeper and deeper meaning for me. There were tears in my eyes as I read it this afternoon. We then had a Christmas story and 'The Night Before Christmas' from our collection of Christmas books in the 'Advent Box' in the loft, which we finally got down last night.
We now have our welcome lights and little lighted Post Office in the window, our Christmas place mats and the beginning of a Christmas feel at home.