A Plethora of Popcorn....
Well, what else should one do? No water....STILL, leaves us with time to follow a few of our Advent activities. I have to highly recommend our book we are using called "The ADVENTure of Christmas" by Lisa Whelchel. I love Lisa Whelchel. She is so down-to-earth and "real." She has written many great books, some of my favs being "Creative Correction," "Taking Care of the ME in Mommy," and "So You're Thinking About Homeschooling." Each of these books have helped me in my parenting and homeschool endeavors and I would recommend them to ANY mom!
Anyway.... There are many activities, but we pick and choose. This is the first year we have actually done more than 1, LOL! I like this simplified Christmas that we are practicing. It gives us more time to concentrate and ponder the real reason and meaning of this wonderful celebration.
So in talking about Christmas Colors and why they are red, green, and white (you'll just have to read it yourself...don't want to give too much away!) we decided on making green popcorn. The best part of the experience (for me) was the interest in the idea of home made popcorn from my girls. I brought the bag home and they looked at it, and with questions in their voices, asked, "Yellow Popping Corn??? What's that?" Oh, how I laughed!!! I guess I haven't made any this way in a long, long, looonng while. So they watched intently while I made it...ya know, the old-fashioned way...in a pot with some oil. I shared with them how this was the only way we had popcorn when I was a kid. Just when was microwave popcorn invented??? I don't even remember. I don't think I bought it until I had the ballerina (she's 13, remember!). Wow. That makes me feel old. I feared they wouldn't like the blandness of it. I made some extra, let them taste it plain, which they made "hmm" noises to, then added some salt, let them taste test, then added some melted butter, to which they fell in love with! They asked if it was cheaper to make it home made (trying to convince me it needs made this way every time). Well, with microwave popcorn being so cheap, I don't really know if it's cheaper. I haven't done the math. Does anyone know???
So, with the other 16 cups of popcorn we followed the recipe which makes a sort of candied popcorn. It's pretty yummy! We chose green to color it, but next time I think we'll do red.
Well, what else should one do? No water....STILL, leaves us with time to follow a few of our Advent activities. I have to highly recommend our book we are using called "The ADVENTure of Christmas" by Lisa Whelchel. I love Lisa Whelchel. She is so down-to-earth and "real." She has written many great books, some of my favs being "Creative Correction," "Taking Care of the ME in Mommy," and "So You're Thinking About Homeschooling." Each of these books have helped me in my parenting and homeschool endeavors and I would recommend them to ANY mom!
Anyway.... There are many activities, but we pick and choose. This is the first year we have actually done more than 1, LOL! I like this simplified Christmas that we are practicing. It gives us more time to concentrate and ponder the real reason and meaning of this wonderful celebration.
So in talking about Christmas Colors and why they are red, green, and white (you'll just have to read it yourself...don't want to give too much away!) we decided on making green popcorn. The best part of the experience (for me) was the interest in the idea of home made popcorn from my girls. I brought the bag home and they looked at it, and with questions in their voices, asked, "Yellow Popping Corn??? What's that?" Oh, how I laughed!!! I guess I haven't made any this way in a long, long, looonng while. So they watched intently while I made it...ya know, the old-fashioned way...in a pot with some oil. I shared with them how this was the only way we had popcorn when I was a kid. Just when was microwave popcorn invented??? I don't even remember. I don't think I bought it until I had the ballerina (she's 13, remember!). Wow. That makes me feel old. I feared they wouldn't like the blandness of it. I made some extra, let them taste it plain, which they made "hmm" noises to, then added some salt, let them taste test, then added some melted butter, to which they fell in love with! They asked if it was cheaper to make it home made (trying to convince me it needs made this way every time). Well, with microwave popcorn being so cheap, I don't really know if it's cheaper. I haven't done the math. Does anyone know???
So, with the other 16 cups of popcorn we followed the recipe which makes a sort of candied popcorn. It's pretty yummy! We chose green to color it, but next time I think we'll do red.
Junior and Roo chomping down!
"The Twelve Days of Christmas"
In her book, Lisa also talks about different Christmas songs and carols (and helps kids understand the difference!). It's so wonderful! I learn right along with the kids most of the time. (my home school mommy friends will agree that this is quite common for us!)
Legend says that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written to help parents teach their children the true meaning of Christmas in England during the 300 years that it was illegal to be a member of the Catholic Church. The words are a 'secret code' that I'm going to crack for you, so that you may share it with your kids, or simply learn something new! :0)
"My True Love" represents God, who gives all the gifts listed in the song.
"A partridge in a pear tree" is Jesus, who gave His life on a tree (the cross).
"Two turtle doves" symbolize the Old and New Testaments.
"Three french hens" are faith, hope, and love.
"Four calling birds" speak of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
"Five golden rings" correspond to the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Pentateuch.
"Six geese a-laying" stand for the six days of creation.
"Seven swans a-swimming" are the seven gifts of the Spirit (Romans 12:6-8).
"Eight maids a-milking" point to the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10).
"Nine ladies dancing" signify the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
"Ten lords a-leaping" represent the ten commandments.
"Eleven pipers piping" are the eleven faithful disciples. And finally......
"Twelve drummers drumming" call to mind the twelve points of the Apostle's Creed.
That's quite a bit learned about the Bible in a very unique song! I don't think I will ever forget that. We created a game (suggested in the book) to help us remember each symbol. Cool, eh? :0)
P.S. I have NO idea why the print is SO large on this post....I tried to make it smaller, but blogger won't let me!!! Grrr...
*All words in purple are from "The ADVENTure of Christmas" by Lisa Whelchel.
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