Holiday Visits

Sharing Traditions with Families...

We had a great morning full of family visitors! Hannah's Mom and Dad came in to share a story and talk to our class about the holiday they celebrate this time of year, Hanukkah. Hannah's Mom, Julia, joined our circle while Hannah's Dad, Michael, told us about this holiday and why people of the Jewish faith celebrate this special time. We talked about the historical context of the holiday and how some celebrators of Hanukkah spend this special time with their loved ones. There are games to be played, like the dreidel game, as well as the sharing of certain foods with one another, including a potato dish called latkes. The story we got to hear today was called The GoLem's Latke's and told the story of a Frankenstein-like creature made of mud and magic by a rabbi many, many years ago who helps out around a household preparing for Hanukkah and ends up creating an overload of the delicious holiday dish.

Julia and Michael left us with some new knowledge, Hanukkah cookies, and a few of their dreidels to try our hands at today.

Later in our morning, after some time running around outside, Malaika, Samuel's mom, came in to share what their family celebrates. She came in with Samuel's little brother, Solomon, and one of their family's favorite Christmas story, The Night Before Christmas. With Samuel's help, she read this fun story which goes through some of the fun traditions surrounding waiting for St. Nick, Santa, to come with his presents to your household. The story had many beautiful pictures and the exciting anticipation of the story kept everyone enthralled.

After the story, we shared a few Christmas carols that our Cardinal teachers and Malaika knew and had a special treat of Christmas cookies that Samuel and his mother baked! What a wonderful morning full of sharing family traditions and delicious treats too!