The Cottage Garden Seedlings: 2011

Craft Soirée- we had so much fun and all made lovely things.

The light is twinkling in the stars,

they shine so bright above.

Each day we light a candle bright

to share our light and love.

And so December is here...... my favorite month of the year. I love the way the moon looks on the dark sky, leaning on the empty branches of the trees. The holidays that come this month celebrating the birth of the light, the miracle of the light. I love the clear sky in the evenings with all the twinkling stars. The crisp air, the mittens and hats and every day at snack we are able to celebrate the light by our small simple rituals.

First we all wash hands and sit down and then I take out my story basket and tell the story of Hugin and his grandmother ( Hugin and Grandma are puppets I made long ago and they are with us all year telling seasonal stories). Grandma showed Hugin how to make a lantern to keep some of Father Sun's light all dark winter long. In the story the children are hearing now Hugin and Grandma go for a walk and she tells him about the little red Tomten (gnome) who lives in the forest. Sometimes the little red Tomten brings a friend and then they love to play hide and seek with the children, grownups can't see them- only the children. Hugin wishes there was a way to keep a bit of Mother Earths Green mantle all winter long so Grandma says, " I think I know a way". Home they go to find a small dish, gather some moss from the garden and put a tiny pine branch in before they put it on the table to be able to see it each winter's day. It is their own Winter garden. The next morning Hugin discovers a treasure in it- a shiny stone and some red berries..hmmmmm who could have put those in??? Was it you Grandma?? asks Hugin- why no she says perhaps it was your little friend, the Red Tomten. Hugin is sure to look every morning to see if the Tomten left anything new, not every day but some days he does. The the story basket goes away and I reach up to our wreath, take my glittery star wand and we sing, Twinkle,twinkle little star... until the star wand lands on a child and that child gets to open the rose box, that always has a new star in it to hang on the wreath. so now we have 8 stars and each day we will add another. A few little woolie angels have also appeared. The we light our red lantern and sing,

Candle, candle burning bright

share with us your love and light.

Hold hands hold

then sing

Blessings on the blossom

blessings on the fruit

Blessings on the leaf and stem

Blessings on the root

after snack I open the lantern and we all blow it out singing

Little Candle golden flame,

come again tomorrow

Then off to our "tummy rest" on our pillows in the playroom for some lullabies before we go outside.

In the playroom the strawberries have gone (out of season ) and every day a few more wooden stars appear in a basket, some wood and some painted gold. These have become cookies and cakes. The room has magically transformed to blue and gold with many stars, some new blue cloths. It feels calm and simple in our room. Some paper stars appear on the windows, new books are out and the fall books are put away. But our rhythm remains strong and the same, oatmeal or rice porridge for breakfast, fresh fruit, soup and milk, rest and songs, play inside and out. The children are protected, happy and calm. We have made a few gifts for the children to take home- but this is a surprise so I won't tell, shhhhhhh. The play has been golden, Barbara is a master of free play and is able to be part of it but never interfering with the children's flow of ideas- just a continuation of them. We have houses and restaurants, lots of bakers and gnomes and lovely , creative, social, interactive play.

Our wonderful Bakke family will be leaving this Saturday to return to Norway. Thursday will be the children's final day here with us. We have so loved having them and will miss them so much.

Photos of the last 3 weeks

Enjoy!