holiday season – Peaceful Reader

(family)

I’ve taken quite a break from blogging without meaning to but grief works in strange ways for everybody and I just took a step back from certain parts of my own life. I’ve still helped with the Mayor Pete campaign although I missed a few events and I’ve obviously headed to work every day which truly brings me such great joy. I love seeing the faces of all my students even the tough ones. School is good and now I’m on winter break which is fantastic. The holiday season is in full swing.

My shopping is almost done and I just have some local things to shop for + groceries to purchase. As my kids get older we really focus on the JOY of spending time together over ripping into tons of gifts. Last year we spent time reading all our favorite Christmas picture books to each other. Something about reading Corduroy’s Christmas or Dream Snow by Eric Carle that ushers in a warm and cozy feeling. We also love to watch Christmas movies together-Love, Actually is one of our favorites and this year we plan to watch Klaus together. We generally go see the new Star Wars movie as a family after Christmas. I’m looking forward to all of it.

Last weekend I went to a soup exchange hosted by a friend. I made this delicious sweet potato curry soup I found on my NYT cooking app. They each made a soup and we came together and shared. I brought home at least 4 jars of homemade soup; a tomato tortellini and an au pistou (a French soup) and both were delicious. And we had a drink I was unfamiliar with (shocking!) – it was We are hosting a Christmas party game night for friends on Sunday night and I’m going to make the tomato tortellini soup for them b/c it looks so festive. Enjoy this weekend, this holiday, hug all those that surround you with love and even the awkward folk who don’t love a hug but treasure your smile. Just spend time with your people. Namaste.

Cuddle in by the fire and read!

I have a few picture books I checked out from the library and they are lovely and perfect gift ideas!

Mo’s Mustache (2013) by Ben Clanton

This is a very humorous look at copy cats and trendsetting-a fine line to be sure! Mo appears with a mustache and all his crazy friends follow along which eventually makes Mo unhappy and feeling very un-special! He puts his beauteous mustache away and sports a fantastic new scarf. His friends copy him again. This is perfect book for the little trendsetter in your family!

Glamorous Glasses (2012) by Barbara Johansen Newman

Bobbie and her cousin, Joanie do everything together so when it comes time for Joanie to get glasses Bobbie wants a pair to wear. It’s always greener on the other side of the fence as Joanie doesn’t really want to get new glasses. The two girls problem solve a solution that ends up mixing both of them up. This would have been a perfect book for Groovy Girl in kindergarten when she struggled with finding anything glamorous about wearing glasses.

Year of the Jungle (2013) by Suzanne Collins

Suzy’s father heads to Viet Nam and from a child’s perspective we hear about how his absence affects the whole family through the year. Full page illustrations show Suzy’s imaginative idea of the jungle. This is short and perfect to use for parents who are deployed today as a way to explain their long absences and may help them to draw their own journals through writing and pictures.

The Littlest Evergreen (2011) by Henry Cole

Full circle for a tiny tree; from the tree’s perspective we learn how this tiny shoot no taller than the glass blades transitions into a Christmas tree. His roots are dug up and surrounded by burlap and purchased by a family. In the springtime the tree is planted again in a big hole dug just for him. This is especially relevant to our family this year as this is exactly what we did. We plan to plant it where another evergreen died around the border of our yard. Our kids are adjusting to the fact that it is not a full-sized tree this year but we are giving it back to the earth and that they can live with.

Happy Holidays.
I had plans to have many other fantastic Christmas posts done before this but it just hasn’t happened. I did have a great last few days of work handing out cookies and sharing books with students and now I will enjoy my family back together for the next week or so. I hope the holiday is filled with many blessing for you and your family.

Tag: holiday season

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