Christmas Traditions - New and Old

The Stricklers have been enjoying a great Christmas season celebrating old and new traditions.

Painting Class at CHHS
Lesly, our Marketing teacher at school who has an art degree from VCU, offered to hold three painting classes between late November and Christmas break.  She sent out a list of supplies, and she has provided her inspiration and guidance to the 10 or so teachers who have participated. We've had such a wonderful time that we've decided to meet and complete one painting a month after school.  We may even meet during the summer!

Project #1: Christmas Ornament

 Four of us with our ornaments on our "finishing day."  I still don't call mine finished yet, but will get around to it!  Maybe I'll post the completely finished product when ready :-)

Project #3 (I missed Project #2): Snowman

My William and Mary-inspired snowman (finished!)

Ho! Ho! Ho! GO Tribe!

Second Annual "Christmas at Home" at Bermuda Hundred UMC

Christmas at Home was held on Saturday, November 30.  Those who gathered participated in Advent workshops (making an Advent wreath, gumdrop tree, or children's crafts), a crock pot potluck dinner, Hanging of the Greens service, and a family Christmas movie.  We had a very special time welcoming the Advent season in our hearts and homes.

Advent Family
We were honored to light the Advent wreath on December 1. The first candle represents HOPE.

Homemade Christmas Goodies for this year

Crock Pot Candy - "Christmas Crack"  This is easy, so delicious, and makes a lot!

Peppermint Bark - Okay, mine (first time!) didn't turn out as beautiful as the one on the blog, BUT it just looks different but still tastes yummy nonetheless...

Friendship Tea -Yummy recipe below.  Thanks to a co-worker, Amanda, for gifting us with this in October (along with the recipe!) to help us get through Parent-Teacher Conferences  :-)

Christmas Countdown Books
I've seen this done before and thought it was wonderful, but I didn't think I'd ever be able to make it a reality at our house.  Beginning December 1 the child can open a wrapped Christmas book every night leading up to Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve night.  What made this do-able this year was the realization that (if timed well!) the books could be checked out of the library!  Will and I have been loving this new tradition this year - he looks forward to unwrapping his book every night!

School Traditions
Our upstairs hallway (English and Foreign Language) decided to decorate our doors for the Christmas season.  It was such a fun endeavor that REALLY created some holiday spirit!  Other staff members judged with a variety of awards: Coziest Door, Happiest Door, Most Likely to Cause Permanent Damage, Most Original, Most Likely to be a Fire Hazard, and of course, First, Second, and Third Place Overall.  We were very excited to be named Third Place Overall  :-)  Below is our prize-winning Gingerbread House Door.

A collage of all the decorated doors:

Every year the CHHS Seminar class leads a school-wide Food Drive that benefits the Colonial Heights Food Pantry, and my first period this year took great initiative and collected 78 items!  We received donuts as a reward for Second Place in the entire school; I'm proud of them!!  The school collected over 1400 items, more than doubling the results from last year.  What a generous bunch of kids!!

This year we held a school-wide Tacky Christmas sweater day, which was a lot of fun.

   Mark's festive shirt for the day

 

Some of my AP English - 1st block class

 

 Some of my AP English - 2nd block class

Visit with Santa 
We visited the Santa at Chesterfield Town Center this year after early church last Sunday.  Will is in a transition period of sometimes taking a nap and sometimes not.  He couldn't take it any longer on our trip to Midlothian, though, and conked out.  :-)

Will was a little slow to warm up to Santa.  He *did* tell Santa his name, but then clammed up when it came time to tell him what he wanted for Christmas.  Fortunately, Mama intervened so Santa would know that Will wants a bicycle for Christmas!

Pumpkin Patch Visit

 We had a great time at the Boulevard Flower Gardens Pumpkin Patch today!

Hayrides, swings, goats, a pony ride, and pumpkins - OH MY!!

 

Lately...

Ever since Will has started as an Awesome Otter (his Pre-K class), he has been more interested than ever in drawing.  In school he drew a picture of his family - a first!!! - and I loved capturing how he was showing Mark who was who in the picture:

He got a paint book and was even very excited to paint a picture of himself.  It's a spitting image, I must say!

Last Saturday we went to Chester Fest, an annual event in the heart of Chester.  There were so many fun things we did...

We rode the shuttle from Thomas Dale, which wasn't a bus this year, but a TROLLEY!!!  Will felt just like one of his favorite characters, Daniel Tiger!

Soon after we arrived and got off the trolley, we saw fire trucks from the Enon Volunteer Fire Department.  They had hats for the kids and offered for them to sit inside of the truck.  Will loved it, as you can see!

A local church had an opportunity for kids to make sand art - how fun!

Petting zoo animals were available outside the Chester Library.  We liked seeing and petting llamas, goats, pigs, and a calf!

This week the focus in Will's class has been Firefighters.  Today they got to see a fire truck up close and were able to get in an ambulance - how awesome!  What's even MORE awesome is that we didn't know it was a day with real fire trucks, but the class was supposed to bring something RED for show and tell.  Will decided to bring the small fire truck that Santa brought to him a couple of years ago, and I picked out a fire engine shirt for him to wear.

At school his teachers and the firefighters talked about how and when to dial 911 for help, and that stuck with Will so much that it has been the topic of conversation all afternoon.  Mark took Will to the park after dinner, and he reenacted a scene at the park where Will "practiced" calling 911:

"Um...This is William fr-fr-fr-from Goddard School.  Um...We need your help.  Um... Umm...Taylor's leg fell off.... Is that understood?"

He definitely stayed calm under the pressure.  I guess that's a good sign.

Swim Lessons: Week One

Will has been enjoying the first set of swim lessons at the Chester YMCA this week.  His teacher is Miss Ashley, and she works very well with Will.  His great smile is a great indicator of his confidence and self-assurance!  Even from the first lesson, he volunteered (!!! What child is this??!!) to go underwater and to jump into the pool and into Ms. Ashley's arms.  We need to continue practicing getting in and out of the pool from the wall.  Our first set of lessons continues Mondays and Wednesdays for the next few weeks.

Will kicking with "Superman arms" outstretched

 

Getting ready to jump in

Miss Ashley gives the kids a choice of whether to be a tree (chop, chop, chop... TIMBER!!) or a rocket ship (3-2-1-BLASTOFF!!) when preparing to jump.  Will prefers to be a tree  :-)

Going underwater at Lesson #2

Look for the BIG smiles when he comes up