And, of course, we have some of the style I had when I was a little girl, which is a paper Advent calendar with its little windows to open. Years ago for my girls I got the book Christmas Roses: Legends for Advent by Selma Lagerlof, and we have the paper Advent calendar that goes along with it.
In 2019, my friend and fellow Handwork teacher, Barbara Albert, recommended Gayle Boss's book All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings. I was so glad she did. I love this book! Because it has so much Nature Study-type information in it, I thought it would be best for 2nd grade, so I was planning on waiting and doing it with Zac at that time.
Read an excerpt at https://gayleboss.com/all-creation-waits.
Then, in 2020, I was talking with my friend Julie about All Creation Waits and she gave me the best idea. She said that her children were gifted a copy of this book from a grandmother along with an enormous box of ornaments, one for each animal in the book. The grandmother had spent a lot of time and money curating this wonderful collection of ornaments. What an extraordinary gift! I love the idea of reading a chapter each night and adding that animal to the tree. I have never slowly decorated our Christmas tree throughout the month of December, and I think it would be so joyful.
So now my current plan is to inventory our collection of animal ornaments when we take down the tree and put them all away, and see what animals I have. For any that I don't, I can work on needle felting them during the course of 2022. When December comes, we will be ready to read the book and marvel at each of these wonderful creatures and how it adapts to the cold and darkness, waiting patiently for the warmth and light to return.
UPDATE: I didn't end up needle felting any! Instead, I got a lot of lovely handmade ornaments from Etsy. I've provided all the seller links below.
Here is the list:
Day 1 - Painted Turtle - from Etsy shop ForageWorkshop
Day 2 - Muskrat
Day 3 - Black Bear - from Etsy shop Luckydogstudio
Day 4 - Chickadee
Day 5 - Whitetail Deer
Day 6 - Honey Bee
Day 7 - Chipmunk - from Etsy shop LeaAlanHandcrafted
Day 8 - Cottontail
Day 9 - Common Loon - from Amazon
Day 10 - Wood Frog - from Zazzle
Day 11 - Raccoon - from Etsy shop OrnamentallyYouEtsy
Day 12 - Little Brown Bat - from Touchstone Pottery
Day 13 - Opossum - from Etsy shop MerryChildGifts
Day 14 - Wild Turkey - from Etsy shop Ornaments4Orphans
Day 15 - Common Garter Snake - from Etsy shop LauraPahlasCreates
Day 16 - Woodchuck - from Etsy shop SweetLibertyBelle
Day 17 - Striped Skunk
Day 18 - Porcupine - from Amazon
Day 19 - Common Eastern Firefly - from Etsy shop ShainaMichael
Day 20 - Meadow Vole - from Etsy shop SusanWindsor
Day 21 - Eastern Fox Squirrel - from Etsy shop MartaDalloul
Day 22 - Red Fox
Day 23 - Northern Cardinal
Day 24 - Lake Trout - from Etsy shop EmpirePewter
This is a pin but I can easily pin it to something to make it an ornament... and I was so glad to finally find a lake trout!!!
And they are all beautifully organized! I got 24 matching white gift boxes to store them in. On the bottom of each box I wrote the day # and animal name. They sit on a special shelf in my closet. I'm so glad I did this project!
5 inches x 5 inches x 3.5 inches
If you've used this book with your family, I'd love for you to share your child's favorite of these stories, or how you have done more to learn about or celebrate the animals. Merry Christmas, everyone!
This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!
Immersive Experience
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