And what a feast it was!!
The kids woke up to new jammies, a matchbox car, and (of course!) candy in their shoes. (It took us until today to finally "convince" Mr. I-Don't-Wear-Anything-New to try on his new jammies!) They all look so adorable!!
I was planning to make Jessica's Candy Cane Coffecake as a treat for breakfast, but I completely spaced it on Saturday because we were so busy making final preparations for our St. Nicholas party! Oh, well. I'll have to remember it for next year.
Our St. Nicholas party was so fun!! Thanks to all the resources available at the St. Nicholas Center, planning was fairly easy. (The hard part was running around getting supplies with the 4 boys in tow!) My intention was to entertain the kids for an hour and let the adults visit, but our homeschool families are so great that everyone came upstairs and helped out. We completely forgot to even try to take pictures during the party, but I did get a few shots of the boys playing the games before we cleaned up.
We opened with a brief reading from The Legend of St. Nicholas. Then, the kids made Origami Miters (out of wrapping paper) and St. Nicholas figures. We also had two carnival-style games for them to play. For one of the games, Kevin and Matthew painted a fireplace scene and the kids had to try and throw a small sack of coins "through the window" into a stocking (or through a square hole or even over the mantle - whatever it took to win!) The prize for this game was a St. Nicholas prayer card.
Here are some pictures of the setup:
Here's a slight action shot:
The next game was inspired by my parents' parish's annual picnic (which coincidentally is St. Nicholas parish!) Again, the kids had to toss coins "through the window." This time they had to try to get the coin into a mug or glass, which they then won as a prize!
(Next year, we hope to build a little stand for the cups, so Matthew doesn't have to maneuver around them on the stairs!)
Here's Andrew trying his luck:
After the games and crafts, we ended our activity time with The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale (the boys' love this one!) and then had a short blessing and delicious potluck dinner!! The kids ate first and then the adults, miraculously, were able to sit around the dinner table and enjoy some conversation while the kids played. Thank you St. Nicholas!
(btw: This post took me 3 days to type! Granted, I'm typing one-handed with babe in arms. But even so, I've got to get more efficient at this!)
The kids woke up to new jammies, a matchbox car, and (of course!) candy in their shoes. (It took us until today to finally "convince" Mr. I-Don't-Wear-Anything-New to try on his new jammies!) They all look so adorable!!
I was planning to make Jessica's Candy Cane Coffecake as a treat for breakfast, but I completely spaced it on Saturday because we were so busy making final preparations for our St. Nicholas party! Oh, well. I'll have to remember it for next year.
Our St. Nicholas party was so fun!! Thanks to all the resources available at the St. Nicholas Center, planning was fairly easy. (The hard part was running around getting supplies with the 4 boys in tow!) My intention was to entertain the kids for an hour and let the adults visit, but our homeschool families are so great that everyone came upstairs and helped out. We completely forgot to even try to take pictures during the party, but I did get a few shots of the boys playing the games before we cleaned up.
We opened with a brief reading from The Legend of St. Nicholas. Then, the kids made Origami Miters (out of wrapping paper) and St. Nicholas figures. We also had two carnival-style games for them to play. For one of the games, Kevin and Matthew painted a fireplace scene and the kids had to try and throw a small sack of coins "through the window" into a stocking (or through a square hole or even over the mantle - whatever it took to win!) The prize for this game was a St. Nicholas prayer card.
Here are some pictures of the setup:
Here's a slight action shot:
The next game was inspired by my parents' parish's annual picnic (which coincidentally is St. Nicholas parish!) Again, the kids had to toss coins "through the window." This time they had to try to get the coin into a mug or glass, which they then won as a prize!
(Next year, we hope to build a little stand for the cups, so Matthew doesn't have to maneuver around them on the stairs!)
Here's Andrew trying his luck:
After the games and crafts, we ended our activity time with The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale (the boys' love this one!) and then had a short blessing and delicious potluck dinner!! The kids ate first and then the adults, miraculously, were able to sit around the dinner table and enjoy some conversation while the kids played. Thank you St. Nicholas!
(btw: This post took me 3 days to type! Granted, I'm typing one-handed with babe in arms. But even so, I've got to get more efficient at this!)
