Winter Solstice

It's December 21, 2006 and the Winter Solstice. This is the shortest day of the year and it's a new moon also. That means no moonlight. Many cultures have celebrated or continue to celebrate this day in a variety of ways.

http://www.winbuzz.com/

Some examples are:

The Dōngzhì Festival or The Winter Solstice Festival(Chinese: 冬至; Pinyin: dōng zhì; "The Extreme of Winter") is an important festival celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the dongzhi solar term on or around December 21 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest; i.e., on the first day of the dongzhi solar term.

Yule was the winter solstice celebration of the Scandinavian Norse mythology and Germanic pagans.

Yaldā also known as Shab-e Cheleh is celebrated on the eve of the first day of the winter (21th December) in the Iranian calendar, which falls on the Winter Solstice. It celebrates the birth of Sun god Mithra.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Solstice_Celebrations

The Nativity Story

We saw The Nativity Story today. The movie was very good and gave you a very real feeling for the times when Jesus was born. The emotions of all the people in the story made the story come alive in ways I didn't expect. Some liberties were taken with the timeline -- for example the Magi were named which is not Biblical and they arrived the night that Jesus was born. There were incidents with Joseph and Mary such as the river which weren't written about the Bible. The extra storylines didn't change the story, but added an element of human experience to it. I loved the symbolism that appeared through the movie. If you are very familiar with story of Jesus and the Bible, you'll recognize it. One scene in particular struck me when Joseph as sleeping by the river and his feet were bloodied from walking. Mary, pregnant with Jesus, sat at his feet and gently washed them.

The most surprising aspect for me personally was the emotion that I felt throughout the movie. When Mary felt the Baby Jesus move for the first time in her womb, it sent chills up my spine was I thought about the real things that Mary experienced. Joseph and Mary wondered about raising Jesus. Joseph wondered how he could take the Son of God anything.

Alex's favorite part of the movie was when Jesus was born!

http://www.thenativitystory.com

Winds...Hadley, Ferrell, and Polar Cells

We are using a Child's Geography for our geography curriculum. Today we read about Hadley, Ferrell and Polar Cells. These are part of the circulation system in our atmosphere.

http://www.geology.wmich.edu/kominz/C8global.circ.gif

A Little Humor during Christmas

A little humor is good in this world of ours that would like to remove CHRIST from CHRISTMAS.

http://www21.brinkster.com/Haptoon/101.htm

Chrismons

I remember when I was younger that my church had Chrismons on the Christmas Tree at church. I miss that.

Chrismons™ ornaments were first made for the church Christmas tree at Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia in 1957 by a Frances Kipps Spencer. Chrismons designs are monograms of and symbols for our Lord Jesus Christ. http://www.chrismon.org/site/chrismon.htm

The tiny white lights and gold Chrismons designs a placed on an evergreen tree. The lights speak of Him who is the light of the world, and the Chrismons ornaments (ChHRISt+MONOgram) proclaim the name, the life, and the saving acts of Jesus the Christ.

In case you have never seen a Chrismon Tree:

Remembering Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese. The attacking planes came as a complete surprise. The planes arrived in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan. 2,403 died, 188 planes were destroyed 8 battleships were damaged or destroyed.

There is an interactive map and timeline at http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/.

Other websites:

http://pearlharborattacked.com/

http://teacher.scholastic.com/pearl/

Phases of the Moon

We are studying Astronomy this year using Exploring Creation with Astronomy. We read books about astronomy topics and biographies of famous scientists, create notebook pages, narrate what's been learned(Charlotte Mason strategy), do activities and watch DVDs. I've always loved astronomy so it's been extra fun for me.

We are currently studying the moon. Alex is keeping a calendar of the phases of the moon for the month of December. Since the moon is full right now we can still see it through the snowy and cloudy nights. We made a diagram of the phases today using black construction paper, coins for tracing circles, white chalk and white crayon.

Our word for the day is "gibbous". It comes from the Middle English, bulging, from Late Latin gibbsus, hunch-backed, from Latin gibbus, hump. It occurs between third quarter of the moon and the first quarter -- opposite from the crescent moon.

Happy St Nicholas Day

Today is St. Nicholas Day -- December 6. We celebrate St Nicholas Day by opening a couple of presents and filling a stocking with gold chocolate coins and games. We read books about St Nicholas.

The Saint Who Became Santa Claus by Evelyn Bence (I can't find it online)
The Real Santa Claus: Legends of Saint Nicholas byMariana Mayer

This is a tradition we started when Alex was 3 years. I want Alex to know who St Nicholas is and how he turned into Santa Claus over time.

Santa Claus is fun, but I think too much emphasis is placed on gifts, Santa Claus and busyness during December. I want to teach Alex that Christmas is not all about Santa Claus, but about the celebration of the birth of Christ.

Since I grew up with Santa Claus and the magical feelings associated with him, it has been hard to talk straight with Alex. So I have talked about St Nicholas and not Santa Claus. However, everywhere you turn in December in America you see Santa Claus. At age 9, Alex knows in his head about St Nicholas, but he so much wants to believe there is a person called Santa Claus who delivers gifts to boys and girls around the world.

There is lots of information on the Internet about St Nicholas. My favorite website is http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23. This is the Russian Winter Icon of St. Nicholas.