Things are very different in the world than they were last early winter, there’s no way around it. Christmas and Hanukkah without family and friends. No seasonal theatre - no Nutcracker! - and no shopping trips into town. Our traditions will inevitably look different this year, but there’s no reason that this holiday season can’t hold its own beauty.
We usually spend all of December slowly celebrating the season, having a month of special days big and small rather than focusing all the excitement on one big day. This year there won’t be any ice skating or trips to see Christmas plays or art exhibitions, but I’ve planned a month of fun, simple activities that won’t overburden us and would be easy to weave into a busier holiday season. Each day, we’ll do one or two simple activities that will invoke festive cheer.
Here’s our simple advent list of activities:
Bring out Christmas books, and give the boys their advent calendar and Christmas pyjamas
Make mince pies
Put up our lights and post Christmas cards
Make popcorn garland for birds
Visit a tree farm to get our Christmas tree
Make mulled apple cider
Bake gingerbread to send to friends
Decorate front windows with snowflakes made from tissue paper
Make snowglobes from recycled jars
Drop donations at food bank
Make clay decorations for tree
Have a Nutcracker party at home
Forage responsibly for wreath-making supplies
Make paper chains
Watch the Snowman and Stick Man
Make pinecone bird feeders
Play carols on the piano together
Make a gingerbread house
Listen to a carol concert
Go see festive lights in town on our bikes
Winter solstice party at home
Make chocolate covered pretzels
Tidy the house while we listen to Christmas tunes
Christmas eve family traditions - baking jam tarts while we listen to Handel’s Messiah, and watch Christmas films
We’ll also be reading lots of festive books, including a chapter of The Yule Tomte and the Little Rabbits each day, and doing some of the activities in the Christmas is Coming advent book. We tend to drop most of our usual home ed plans in December and pick them back up again in January, so other than doing some maintenance-level maths and writing, our home ed morning and afternoon times will be mostly focused on seasonal activities. There’s plenty of maths, history, science, and reading in all of the daily activities of Christmastide!