It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Angie at Take Christmas Back had a great idea for Christmas verse books that she could give out. She generously let me borrow her idea which I then turned into my version of a Christmas Card. I used some of her verses and added in my own favourites. I have given them out to friends and family with the invitation to meditate on the verses as we approach the busy christmas season. I actually laminated mine so that they would stand the wear and tear of being in a handbag. It is too easy to become caught up in the hustle and bustle of christmas and forget where our focus should be. None of what we are doing may in and of itself be wrong but it is all too easy for me to stress and worry over the little things because I want everything to be "just right". It was great to meditate on the verses myself and pray for the recipiants as I was putting the booklets together. Here is what the finished product looked like.











Besides starting to decorate the house (and garden), the other "Christmasy" thing we did this weekend was attend a ladies function at our church where we decorated gingerbread houses. The gingerbread pieces, icing and lollies were all supplied so all we had to do was put it together! It was so much fun that we are planning to spend a day with friends doing it all over again, this time with the younger children. Here are the photos of Hannah's and my houses that we created Friday night.

Nursing Home Concert

After much anticipation and many hours of practice, today was the day - the children and their cousins hosted their Sunday afternoon concert at the Walkervile Nursing Home. There were seven children aged between 10 and 17, ably assisted by Rebecca on the piano. The concert commenced with a sing-a-long of olden songs with Rebecca. The middle section was a mixture of individual or duets on either the piano, flute or violin followed by the "band". The band consisted of Hannah on the trombone, Luke on the French Horn, Rona and Jenna on the violin, Michelle and Kira on the flute and Stephen on the Clarinet. After this bracket of Australian songs, another sing-a-long was held, this time of Christmas Carols. The residents seemed to enjoy the afternoon with many of them joining in, some quite lustily.
Despite the nervous tension, I think that it was an excellent afternoon. I was very proud of all of them as none of them are real "up front" people. They worked very hard to overcome their fear of performing in front of people. While they would say that they are glad that the afternoon is over, I think they all enjoyed themselves also.
There is no let up in practice however, as there are still several more events lined up - busking in the Mall, another nursing home (this time with folk from church), one more band performance at a school, a family carol service at church and Christmas Caroling to some elderly folk on Christmas Eve.
Just another day (few weeks) in the life of a homeschool family!

Taking Christmas Back!

This is something that has been floating around in the back of my mind for quite a few years but reading Angie's blog has brought it to the forefront. As a mother I want my children to be happy, to see their joy on Christmas morning as they open all their gifts. The dream we have doesn't always match reality however. I am usually left feeling like something is missing, never sure quite what that "something" is. Angie has shown me what that something was - I have been leaving Christ out of Christmas. Sure the children know that it is the birthday of Jesus, but it has always been more talk than action. Thanks to Angie, I am hoping that this year will be different! This year, starting the first day of December and going through till Christmas Day, I aim to do something every single day to try and remember what Christmas is really all about. While I want our family to enjoy the Christmas season, I want to see how much fun we can have not doing things for ourselves, "but by seeing how much greater the joy is when we focus on trying to celebrate Jesus and everything He means."
We have a plan for this to happen. I have read about the Jesse Tree The Jesse Tree represents the family tree, or genealogy of Jesus Christ. It tells the story of God's salvation plan from creation and throughout the Old Testament, to the coming of the Messiah. The continuity of God's love, patience and grace across the centuries to the most unlikely peeople in the midst of their failures is the focus as we hang a specific ornament each day.
The other thing we are working on is a calendar which counts the days till Christmas. Each day we will do something fun and exciting related to the Christmas season but it will be with a twist. It will be about us giving of ourselves in some way rather than participating in an event in order to receive something. The children want to try busking in the mall so we will do that but instead of asking for money, they will do it to entertain and we will also have some Christian tracts about the true meaning of Christmas to give out. One day we will bake Christmas goodies but to give away to others. We will participate in a letter box drop organised by the church. The children will perform a concert for the residents of a nursing home. These are just some of the ideas we have come up with so far. We have a few more days to fill in so any ideas would be appreciated!
As I am realising more and more, God desires to work in us as much as through us. It is as much about the process as it is about the finished product. I pray that I will remain open to what He is teaching me through this Christmas season.

Remembrance Day

At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare. The allied armies had driven the German invaders back, having inflicted heavy defeats upon them over the preceding four months. In November the Germans called for an armistice (suspension of fighting) in order to secure a peace settlement. They accepted the allied terms of unconditional surrender.
On this 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, we attended a Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Banksia Park Primary School. The Banksia Park Concert Band (that both girls play in) performed and also led a sing-a-long following the ceremony. Stephen's band, the Beat Bugs, joined in on some of the songs and did very well. For most of them it was their first public performance. They looked very smart in their concert uniform as you can see in the photo.

The Adelaide Christmas Pagaent

Hannah and Michelle ventured into the city today, on the bus, on their own. Well, not technically on their own as there were (if you believe the news reports) about 300,000 other people there! It was the day of the Adelaide Christmas Pageant! Michelle did a St John's duty and Hannah kindly offered to take her. Of course she had her own reasons for going but I appreciated her doing it all the same. Hannah is obsessed with brass bands at the moment so saw the pageant as an excellent opportunity to witness first hand, a variety of brass bands up close and personal. I stayed home and watched it on the television!
When the girls came home, foot sore and exhausted, we watched the pageant on video. I have never been all that interested in either attending or watching the pageant but this year I did enjoy watching it through their eyes. Hannah managed to catch up with six people she knew that were participating in the pageant - one in a singing group, one in the police band and four in the Tea Tree Gully Redbacks, the band she aspires to join (hopefully next year!).
"Normal" people line the streets and watch the parade go past them but not Hannah. She walked alongside the Police Band for quite some distance and then looped back several times in order to follow some of the other bands. The route is 3.2 kms but I would think that she walked at least double that today.
Michelle enjoyed her duty even though she didn't have to treat anybody (I think she was rather grateful for that). After patrolling for some time, once the Pageant got under way, she managed to stand and watch the parade so I don't believe she walked nearly as far as Hannah, even though she was the one on duty!
It is another step in letting out the apron strings - they are moving out into the world without me! I'm not complaining really, as I certainly enjoyed putting my feet up at home with my cup of coffee! It's just that it is a new experience for me. I did love hearing about their day and sharing in their adventures on their return.

Birthday Party of the (19th) Century

This past month or so we have been looking at what life was like in the 19th century so for Michelle's special 13th birthday party, we decided to have a mid 19th century picnic. We addressed the invitations to the "Ladies of the Household", inviting both the mothers and daughters which meant we ended up with 25 people, including 15 girls aged between three and seventeen. We held it at a friend's property in the Adelaide Hills which was the perfect setting. Everyone got into the spirit of things, from responding to the invitation in "typical"(??) 19th century fashion, to dressing up for the occasion. We laid out picnic rugs on the sloping lawns and had a variety of games for the girls to play eg. pick up sticks, jacks, old maid cards, badminton, skipping ropes etc. The girls ate out on the rugs while the ladies ate their high tea in style in the parlour. Following family photos by the resident photographer (yes, cameras were around then!), we played some games - relay races like pass the bonnet and egg and spoon race. We had a three legged race for the girls then they convinced us that we should have a mother/daughter three legged race! That was interesting! After all the frivolity, we went inside for Michelle to open her presents. As everyone headed home after four and half hours, we realised that we had forgotten to have the birthday cake!
Michelle declared that this was her best birthday party ever and I would say it was the one that I enjoyed the most. It achieved everything that I wanted it to. It was a fitting finale to our study of the 19th century, it developed relationships both young and old and it celebrated Michelle's entry into the teenage years in style! I was especially impressed with the way that such a diverse range of ages and personalities could get along so well, for the most part without adult intervention. The majority of the girls were from our church and they all get on beautifully. It was lovely to see the older ones look after the younger ones and to see them all enjoying each others company and for the most part, making their own fun.
Here are a couple of photos from the day.





Happy Birthday Michelle!