Mia had her school Christmas Celebration yesterday and it was Prima!! (Awesome) I think they "get it" over here. It is not all about the gifts and Parties (although don't get me wrong, gifts and parties are fun :-), but instead the true meaning of Christmas. We arrived at her school and all of the children had a prop and were sitting in a circle. The teacher read the story of the Birth of Jesus (in German) and it was all geared towards the kids understanding. As she read "In a city long ago..., the little boys built the city with their props (the blocks). As Mary and Joseph (interesting enough it is pronounce Maria and Yoseph in German) walked to Bethlehem, a road had to be built by the Children (with Pebbles). The entire story had to be "built" as it was read. Mia's proud job was to place Jesus in the Manger. At the end, they turned out the lights and each child held a real candle (yes, they can do that here because there is not a liability issue :-) and sang both a German Song and an English Song (see the video below). It was so adorable to see! Today (our Christmas Eve)is the big day over here because this is the day that traditionally the tree goes up and while the family is at Church, the gifts appear under the tree and are opened that night (because Jesus brings the gifts). For the entire Advent Season Mia's Classroom has been so cozy with candles lit and lights dimmed with Christmas Decorations. We have been so impressed with how they celebrate the Season! One more thing to add with the liability thing that we are not used to...is the Christmas tree that is shown in the picture was lit with real candles! Children were taking ornaments that they had made off of the tree and while doing this, the branches would move and Bryan and I were about to have a heart attack in nervousness, just knowing a branch would catch fire. We love the no liability here, but this was a little out of our comfort zone :-) All in all we have truly enjoyed this Christmas Season! We wish you the Merriest of Christmas' and Great Heath and Happiness in 2009!!!!!!
4 comments:
Thank you so much for sharing Mia's celebration. I wish we could do that in the public schools. I think I will share this with Skyler's school. It is so appropriate!!!!! I knew about the real candles.
Our program centered around the customs from different countries. Germany was one of them. Martin Luther was supposedly walking through a forest and thought the stars shining through the trees looked so amazing that he took one home and used candles to represent the stars. The children sang O Christmas Tree with movements. They did a great job. They made an ornament for each country. We did sing Away in the Manger; however, I don't think I could do the story. I can ask. I would love to do that. Maybe if I incorporate it with the custom of Germany's children's celebration it would fly....... Hope so.....
I agree that we do too much spending for Christmas. How many children truly feel the reason for the season here in the U.S.A.? I don't think too many.
Hope you all stay healthy and happy. Every household here has someone not feeling well. It doesn't stay cold enough long enough to kill all the bugs. Must get started with a few chores.
Love you all,
GP
Rhodes family, it is so much fun to experience Germany through you guys. We love the stories, the pictures, the history and the German vocabulary. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas season! We think of you often.
The Drafts
What a neat way to celebrate!! The kids(and adults, too) are so lucky to be able to experience all the customs over there. We wish you a wonderful Christmas tomorrow. We'll be sure to talk to you all at some time during the day.
WE LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL,
ChristiBob
Allison,
Glad to hear you are really soaking up all the beauty of living and celebrating in a different culture. Even though I'm agnostic, I think Mia's school's celebration of Christmas sounds positively wonderful and wish they could do something like that here. We got Julia a Playmobil nativity toy set and now she has declared that she wants to name her coming-soon baby brother, Baby Jesus. We hope she will let that go by March :) Thanks for sharing on the blog and Happy New Year!
Carol Hsu
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