One of Elina's recent assignments was to make a holiday traditions poster and to present it to the class. Elina wanted to draw all the pictures for the poster herself (rather than just printing up real pictures), so we had to limit the project to 5 traditions. I knew that if we did any more than that she would lose interest after awhile. The 5 traditions she chose were:
1. The Advent Storybook. This book follows Benjamin Bear as he follows the star to Bethlehem to see Baby Jesus. Beginning on December 1st, we read one story to the kids until Christmas Day. We started this last year and this year Elina has really gotten into it. The kids love Benjamin Bear.
2. Matching Christmas PJs. On Christmas Eve, the kids always open their first gifts, which are matching Christmas PJs. Like I've said before, I'm a big sucker for PJs. This year is even better because I got to get 3 matching PJs! Can't wait for the picture!
3. Advent Calendar. We have an Advent calendar that has pockets for each day and you move this wooden Christmas tree into a different pocket each day. This year I've filled each pocket with a Christmas activity so that we can do something festive every day. This has actually been the hardest thing to keep up with because things come up and plans change and sometimes there aren't enough hours in a day. But so far this has been Elina's all-time favorite thing because she loves to do a new activity each day. I'll have to post more about our Advent activities later because they have actually been really fun.
4. Christmas Ornaments. Every year the kids get to go pick out their own ornaments for the tree. I love this tradition because the ornaments represent what they really like at that moment. Last year Elina picked Ariel at Disneyworld and Eli got a Thomas ornament. This year Elina picked a squirrel (she really wanted a mouse but there were no mice to be found) and Eli picked a T-Rex ornament. Then each year, as a family, we buy a new ornament from a vacation that we've taken. Last year we got one from Disneyworld and this year we chose one from Philadelphia.
5. Christmas Lights. Every year we take the kids in their PJs to go look at Christmas lights. This year we added hot cocoa, marshmallows, and cookies into the mix. The most exciting part for them is getting out of their seats and standing by the open windows. They just love not being buckled. (I know this isn't super safe, but we wait until we get into a neighborhood before we let them out of their seats and we drive slowly around to look at lights.)Elina and I spent Saturday morning drawing, gluing, and decorating the poster. The last thing left
to do was to color in the pictures, but by then Elina told me, "Mommy, I don't want to work on this for the rest of the day." So we called it quits and finished up Sunday. Her poster came out really well and we were so proud of her hard work.
Elina was the first one to present and she was a little nervous. The kids get to use the pointer and this makes it even more exciting. Elina (and a lot of her classmates) all stood right in front of their posters, talking to the poster while pointing at it with the pointer. This made it difficult to hear. We would tell the kids to move to the side, but they would still wander back to the same spot and block the poster. It was pretty amusing. 
I only got to video some of it because Elina was speaking so quietly at the poster. But it was still super cute. The part the kids like best is at the end when they get to call on their friends if they have questions. Elina felt so important!
I was so proud of Elina because we worked on what she was going to say right before school. She was so thorough and remembered most of what we had discussed. She did such a great job!
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