6 Winter Waldorf Festivals to Celebrate in December

Advent

The period beginning four Sundays before Christmas that is observed by most Christians in preparation for the celebration of Christmas Day. In Waldorf homes, Advent is recognized by representing the kingdoms of our planet each Sunday:

The first Sunday of Advent we recognize minerals and stones.
The second Sunday of Advent we recognize the plant kingdom.
The third Sunday of Advent we recognize the animal kingdom.
The fourth and last Sunday of Advent we recognize humankind.

We have so many beautiful ways to share with you on how to bring this sacred festival into your home or school in our publications:

December Preschool/Kindergarten Book (Ages 3-6)

December Afterschooling Book (Ages 6+, teens and adults)

Advent and St. Nicholas Festival Book (All Ages)

St. Nicholas Day, December 6th

Celebrated on December 6th (December 5th elsewhere) in many European countries to honor the Christian saint as the bringer of gifts. Boys would sometimes dress as bishops to give to the poor. Many children would wait for treats to be left under their pillows or shoes that were left out. In Waldorf homes and schools, this celebration continues with children leaving their shoes out the eve before (December 5th) to wake to small treats inside including chocolate, coins, fruits, nuts and sometimes a small toy. 

Where to find ideas for this beautiful celebration:

December Preschool/Kindergarten Book (Ages 3-6)

December Afterschooling Book (Ages 6+, teens and adults)

Advent and St. Nicholas Festival Book (All Ages)

Santa Lucia Day, December 13th

The Feast of St. Lucia or Santa Lucia is a festival of light, as are many of the celebrations this time of year. In some countries she is represented as a lady in a white dress with a wreath of candles in her hair. Many celebrate this special day by having the oldest daughter in the family wear a wreath in her hair and offer sweet buns or cookies to others. Boys also share a role by wearing star boy caps or dressing as St. Stephen. The procession is said to help all move forward with light into the deep, dark winter days ahead. 

In my Kindergarten class, we often made St. Lucy Buns as well as crowns and star boy hats for the children and had a walk around our playground and school. In the Little Acorn Learning guides we offer complete instructions for these activities as well as some more unique ideas such as planting indoor wheat for St. Lucia Day.

December Preschool/Kindergarten Book (Ages 3-6)

December Afterschooling Book (Ages 6+, teens and adults)

Winter Festivals Book (All Ages)

Hanukkah

This beautiful Jewish festival is often called the Festival of Lights. It is observed to recognize the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem. Often a menorah will be lit each evening for eight nights to represent the rededication of the Jewish faith and to spread the light to future generations. A fun game played during this time is the spinning of a dreidel and sometimes small gifts will be shared each of the eight days of spiritual acknowledgement. While my family is not Jewish, I always recognized this special festival in my classroom as the light of hope reaches beyond all faiths and backgrounds. 

Our Winter Festivals Book includes a beautiful tutorial on making a menorah with found nature items, a Star of David banner, as well as a paper menorah. We also have recipes and songs to share.

The Winter Solstice/Yule, December 21st 

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This day marks the winter season which continues until the Spring Equinox. Yule was celebrated before the conversion to Christianity in many cultures and this ancient festival still holds strong roots in all we see in the Winter Solstice as well as Christmastime. 

Celebrating the solstice is a magical time in Waldorf homes and schools. All of our books bring this warming festival into the lives of your children with warm recipes, songs, crafts and meditations. Creating a Yule Log was always a favorite in my classroom.

December Preschool/Kindergarten Book (Ages 3-6)

December Afterschooling Book (Ages 6+, teens and adults)

Winter Festivals Book (All Ages)

King Winter Celebration Book (All Ages)

Christmas Day, December 25th 

The day that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ in many Christian faiths (Eastern Orthodox faiths celebrate on January 7th). The four Sundays of Advent lead up to this sacred day.

In our home we have a beautiful tradition of an Advent Spiral calendar as well as other advent traditions such a nativity, advent wreath, mistletoe and Christmas tree. Culturally on this day, many children wake up to gifts from Santa Claus who travels the world to bring joy to those who believe. The tradition of Santa Claus stems from the long rooted tradition of celebrating St. Nicholas, the saint of giving. Many non-Christians still enjoy decorating and sharing gifts this time of year to share love and light with one another.

December Preschool/Kindergarten Book (Ages 3-6)

December Afterschooling Book (Ages 6+, teens and adults)

Advent and St. Nicholas Festival Book (All Ages)

Winter Festivals Book (All Ages)

Which of these December festivals do you celebrate? We hope we have inspired you to weave your own family traditions and customs into your winter celebrations and also try incorporating new ideas from some of the examples above.

Celebrate the Winter Solstice and Win a Free E-Book By Sharing Your Ideas!

The Winter Solstice is here and I love looking back on some of the beautiful ways we have celebrated this special equinox as well as many of the beautiful ideas included in our winter e-books at Little Acorn Learning.

Over the upcoming months, the sun will climb higher, our days will become longer and filled with more warmth.  The solstice is a wonderful time to try to slow down and be more mindful of what is going on both in the world around you as well as deep inside of you.  This is something I really need to focus on in my own life as well.

There are beautiful poems, stories and books you can share with the children during this magical festival.  Some of my favorite books to share are:

       

Here are some of my old favorites to help you celebrate this special time.  There are many more beautiful ideas, recipes, songs, books, meditations and more in our winter books on our website as well as on our blog.

Make a Winter Nature Table (as explained in our Winter Festivals E-Book)

Photo by Sara Wilson

Winter Garland (as in the December 5 Day Guide and on our blog):

Solstice Spinners (detailed instructions in our Winter Festivals E-Book):

Make a Yule Log (in our December Enrichment Guide):

Roast Chestnuts

Bake Sun Bread (December 5 Day Guide):

Make Solstice Crowns (Winter Festivals E-Book):

Photo by Sara Wilson

Make a Solstice Wish (King Winter E-Book):

Make Cinnamon Cocoa (December Enrichment Guide):

Photo by Kristine Brown

Snow Candles

What are some of your favorite ways to celebrate this beautiful festival?

Post your idea in comments and we will pick a random winner tomorrow evening the 22nd to win a free winter e-book of their choice from Little Acorn Learning!

Be sure to check back here as we will announce the winner on our blog!

Solstice Blessings xoxo

It's the Winter Solstice!

Deep peace of the winter solstice to you.

Deep peace of the falling snow to you.

Deep peace of the love of friends to you.

Deep peace of the gentle deer to you.

Deep peace of the moon and stars to you.

—Author Unknown 

Today is the Winter Solstice and we had a little flurry of snow this morning to help us get into the spirit.  Christmas is only four days away and I've been busy trying to get the house in order and wrap presents.  I did what I said I would and went much lighter on gifts this year compared to years before but I think I could have even done less and the girls would have had plenty.  It's a work in progress toward true simplicity, I guess.

Over the next six months, the sun will climb higher and higher into the sky, gradually stretching our days longer and warming our earth. This winter solstice, you can enjoy simple acknowledgments of this special time by creating a winter nature table filled with objects that remind you of this time of year, crafting and making winter works of art (we have so many beautiful crafts in our Winter Festivals E-Book if you need inspiration) and making the decision to slow down and be mindful of what is going on both inside and outside of you right now.

A really simple activity to do with children of all ages is stringing berries and popcorn to make garland.  Today or tomorrow would be a perfect time to do this as it will stay fresh toward Christmas day.  You can place this garland as a treat for the birds outside or decorate your indoor tree with them.  All you need is popcorn, cranberries, a needle and thread.  Children will work for hours on this and it is a wonderful way to practice fine motor skills for little ones.  Just keep an eye on the needle but you will be surprised how careful, gentle and capable our children are when given tasks that require their attention like this.

As I go back to my preparations, I leave you with this sweet reminder of why the work we do as parents and caregivers is so important in our hope to one day see peace in our world.  Something that seems so unattainable lately but I still believe change can happen:

If there is light in the soul,

there will be beauty in the person.

If there is beauty in the person,

there will be harmony in the house.

If there is harmony in the house,

there will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation,

there will be peace in the world.

—Chinese Proverb 

Look for The Light: The Winter Solstice

“I will love the light for it shows me the way.  Yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.” – Og Mandino




On this rainy and dark Winter Solstice, I am here with the children and working hard to bring the light and joy of the new winter sun and Christmas time into my home.  It is not easy after the events of last week and some of it feels forced.  I am sure I am not alone in my difficulty as all of us wrestle with the desire to both mourn and celebrate at this very sacred time of the year.  

The Winter Solstice is a time when the darkness of winter is deep and the days get shorter as the nights grow long.  It is a time to celebrate and await the return of the light.  A time to go deep within ourselves and relight our inner candle to keep ourselves warm.  Especially now, this is a time for us all to rejoice in the eventual return of the sun and envision a new world and new beginnings for our earth.  I have decided that the "end of the world" term is figurative and in our new world we will learn to live together, love one another and create peace.  I am asking you all to join me in creating this new earth.  

Over the next six months, the sun will climb higher and higher into the sky, gradually stretching our days longer and warming our planet.  Let us use the time to be a light to those around us, to help spread goodness and beauty into our world, to reevaluate all we have focused on in the past and shift our energy toward pure, healing and loving endeavors.  Let us work to teach the youngest of us to be peacemakers and tolerant souls.  

Let us use this time to focus on our families.  Let us reconnect with our higher power and ask through meditation and prayer how we can be of service to heal our world. 

If there is light in the soul,  

there will be beauty in the person.  

If there is beauty in the person,  

there will be harmony in the house.  

If there is harmony in the house,  

there will be order in the nation.  

If there is order in the nation,  

there will be peace in the world. 

—Chinese Proverb

In the spirit of the Look for The Light project here, I am sharing a sweet letter I received from someone in our Little Acorn Learning community:

We want to make our contribution to shed light and positive energy during this time and say prayers together for the families every evening.  Our boys are only 4,2 and 8 months and only know that people in Boston (this area is the only area they know near you because we camped there on our family vacation this summer,  so they look on this area fondly :) ) have lost their friends and are very sad.  So,  they wanted to draw a picture for the families in "Boston",  and I have included it here.  Rowan is 4 and wanted to draw a picture of a sun,  and as he proceeded drawing,  drew a door leading to a sun....Davis,  who is 2 wanted to draw a 'Happy face ball" like the one he has that makes him happy,  so I helped him with that:)  We did send these along to Newton but wanted to share them with you too.  Hope they can help spread the light and bring a little more peace.  Thank you for all that you do:) 

Love and Peace, 

The Robblee Family 

The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come.  At the darkest moment comes the light.” – Joseph Campbell


If I could ask for anything besides that the events of December 14th never happened, it would be that this was a turning point for us all - a time when we will no longer stand by and watch but take loving action.  I would ask that this feeling of wanting change would not dissipate after time moves on.  

Here is a sweet project my daughter Maia worked on after being given a paper entitled "I'm Gonna Like Me."  - can we teach our children to love themselves so that they are able to love others?  Can you ask your children to do this project?  Can you do it yourself? 

To celebrate winter today, my children came up with a very fun idea of creating an Eye Spy ornament.  Here is the simple tutorial for you:

Eye Spy Ornament

Materials Needed:

• Plastic (not glass) clear ornament with top
• Beads
• Shredded paper
• Small items to look for (i.e. a dime, tiny lego, etc.)
• Glue 
• Sharpie Marker
• Tag

This is very simple and fun.  Have the children hunt around the house for very tiny items to put inside their plastic ornament.  We had letter tiles, marbles, hair ties, a piece of crayon, an acorn top, a dime, a tiny lego, a very small lego "head", a piece of a feather and more.  Write each item on your tag that you will later attach so children know what to hunt for. 

 Place all tiny items inside your ornament.  Then fill the ornament up with beads and shredded pieces of paper to make it challenging.  

We recommend using hot glue or regular glue before you put the top on so your ornament does not spill later on.  Be sure to write "I Spy" with a sharpie marker on it or sticker letters and also put the child's name and year on the bottom.  

We hope this brings you a little happiness today. 

Enjoy it.

xoxo

Some other ideas from Little Acorn Learning that may help you to celebrate winter are in our following e-books:

King Winter E-Book

Winter Festivals E-Book

Three Kings Day E-Book

January 5 Day Childcare Guide

January Enrichment Guide

Winter Childcare Menu

Time to Breathe and New E-Book Releases!

For the last two months, we have been working feverishly around here writing and creating two wonderful new e-books through Little Acorn Learning.  The children have been helping me with the crafts and in the evenings and on weekends I have been carving out time to write.

My partner in this Festival Series project, Sara Wilson of Love in the Suburbs, is so amazingly talented and organized and it has been a pure pleasure to work with someone who is such a kindred spirit.  We have truly become dear connected friends on opposite sides of the United States and I am so grateful to have her in my life.  I look forward to phone calls, emails and texts from Sara to brighten my spirit when the deadlines are creeping up behind me.  One day maybe we will even meet in person now that we have written a ton of books together.  :)

One of the things I love most about this work I do is that it fully includes my children.  While it is very time consuming to plan, organize, write, create and upload the material - the entire process could not be without  my girls by my side.  They are my testers, my crafters, my assistants, my idea generators and my little person point-of-view go-to team.  They are my loves.  

I hope they will not only remember a mama who worked many hours and needed to spend a lot of time in the evenings on the computer running a business.... but I hope they also remember the special time we shared together as these e-books took form, almost as they were given to us from above - a pure gift.

 My hope is that our labor of love will also be a gift to other families.  I hope you spend time crafting and singing and getting your hands dirty with your children as you work through our books.

I hope you know that we not only do this for an income, we do it with the hope, that in our own little way, we are somehow making the world a better place for children and their caregivers.

As the beauty of the winter season approaches, know that with everything we do - your families are in our hearts and minds and we wish you love, peace and joy with your family and friends this holiday time and always.

So without further ado, we are PLEASED, EXCITED, RELIEVED? to announce the release of two huge e-books (that were supposed to be one winter e-book but grew so big we had to split it in half!):

The Advent and Saint Nicholas Festival E-Book
and
The Winter Festivals E-Book

handcrafted with love from all of us at Little Acorn Learning

xoxo