Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2022 by Jennie

Merry Christmas!

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, wonder | Tagged | 50 Comments

The True Story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Jennie

As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May wasn’t feeling much comfort or joy. A 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, May was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after their four-year old-daughter, Barbara.

One night, Barbara asked her father, “Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. But he wanted to give his daughter hope, and show her that being different was nothing to be ashamed of. More than that, he wanted her to know that he loved her and would always take care of her. So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. As he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture book.

In early December, Bob’s wife died. Though he was heartbroken, he kept working on the book for his daughter. A few days before Christmas, he reluctantly attended a company party at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own. Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of good will, the head of the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph had made him into a millionaire.

Now remarried with a growing family, May felt blessed by his good fortune. But there was more to come. His brother-in-law, a successful songwriter named Johnny Marks, set the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star had scored a holiday hit with “Here Comes Santa Claus” a few years before. Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina. She was so touched by the line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games” that she insisted her husband record the tune.

Within a few years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind “White Christmas.” Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in song by Johnny Marks has come to symbolize Christmas as much as Santa Claus, evergreen trees and presents. As the last line of the song says, “He’ll go down in history.”

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, Family, Inspiration, Kindness, Love, picture books, self esteem, wonder | Tagged , , | 67 Comments

My Favorite Christmas Ad – Repost

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Jennie

My favorite Christmas Ad, every year.

The Spirit of Christmas
That’s what it’s really about.
This is the year we need to keep that spirit alive.
This is the year we need to find happiness.
If we are happy, it is contagious.
I bring you my favorite ad, as this is the one to, well…
fill me with twinkle lights that shoot out of my fingers and toes.
Yes, this is the one.

May you find happiness and joy this season.
It’s the little things, not the big things, that are important.
Dance, smile, hug your kids, look at the sky.
You will become the shooting star for others.

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, Family, Inspiration, joy, Love, wonder | Tagged , , , | 70 Comments

Best Children’s Christmas Books – Annual Post

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Jennie

Christmas books are often more meaningful to read to a child after the holiday, once a child has experienced the joy of Christmas.     

Red and Lulu, by Matt Tavares is the story of two cardinals who live in a mighty evergreen tree.  They love their home, their tree.  Best of all, they love it when winter arrives and Christmas carolers sing close by.  Red leaves to get food, and when he returns, the tree is being cut down and hauled away.  He tells Lulu to stay, and he desperately follows the truck as it drives the tree away – but he can’t fly fast enough.  The tree becomes the tree at Rockefeller Center, and the story behind finding Lulu and what happens is fascinating.  It’s Christmas, nature, love, adventure, and never giving up.

This is a repost of my favorite Christmas books.  Every year they grow stronger, because children love them.  These are the books children and adults want to read over and over again.  That’s why they’re the best.  Please, go to the library, get some of these books and read them aloud to your children.  You will be hooked, too.

I want to share with you my favorite Christmas books.  I love books, and I love reading to children.  After a gazillion years, these are the ‘tried and true’, stories that children love. Me, too!

Grab tissues, laughter, and wonder, and some history.  Some books you will recognize. Others might seem new, but they’re not— they’re just better.

The first time I read The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg was in 1985, when the book was published.  I was at a huge family Christmas gathering. Someone put the book in my hand and asked me to read it to the crowd.  This was a new book for me, and as I read the words I was on that train ride.  The ending was hard to read aloud with my heart in my throat. The movie is good, but the book is superior.

On Christmas Eve, by Peter Collington is a captivating wordless book, in the style of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.  It is based in England, with fairies and Santa Claus traditions.  It is fascinating to follow the fairies helping Santa!

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree, by Robert Barry is a delightfully predictable tale of a tree that is too tall.  Each time the top is snipped off, it goes to someone else who has the same problem, and so on.  The mouse gets the very last tree top.  The story is done in rhyme, always a delight to the ears of children.

Morris’s Disappearing Bag, by Rosemary Wells is the story of Morris, the youngest in the family, who is too little to play with his sibling’s gifts.  He discovers one last present under the tree, a disappearing bag.  I wonder if J.K. Rowling read this book- perhaps it was the inspiration to create Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.

Carl’s Christmas, by Alexandra Day is one of the Carl book series.  It is beautifully done with full color illustrations.  Of course Carl is a dog who is often left to look after the baby.  That beginning alone is a story grabber.  Best of all, it is a wordless book, leaving much to speculate and talk about.

Santa Bruce, by Ryan T. Higgins is the newest book on this list.  Bruce is a grumpy old bear, and is again the victim of mistaken identity.  He is not the real Santa, yet all the animals are convinced that he is.  The book is absolutely hilarious.

If I had to pick only one out of the pile of books, it would be Apple Tree Christmas, by Trinka Hakes Noble.  The story takes place in New Hampshire in the 1800’s.  A blizzard, a farm, a tree, and a child who loves to draw.  It is thrilling from beginning to end… grab the tissues, it’s a true story.


My almost number one book is The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston.  The story takes place in rural Appalachia, close to my roots.  It is a story of rural traditions, WWI, a train, and what a mother does on Christmas Eve.  And, it’s a true story. Recommended for kindergarten and above.

Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, by Tomie dePaola is a favorite. Everyone loves Strega Nona and Big Anthony.  This book incorporates the culture of Italy and Christmas, and the lessons of life.

Night Tree, by Eve Bunting is a modern tale that tells the story of a family and their tree in the woods.  Every Christmas Eve the family bundles up and heads from their house to the woods.  They find “their tree”, the one they have decorated every year for the animals.  It is a well written story, weaving adventure and giving, and family being together.

Dr. Seuss has always been one of the best.  He outdid himself with How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  The message of the true meaning of Christmas shines through in this book.  Please skip the movie, it doesn’t hold a candle to the book.

Every adult should read these books.  Period.  They are that good.  Then, spread the joy and learning by reading aloud these books to children, young and old.  They will love the stories.  You will, too.

Merry Christmas!

Jennie

Posted in Book Review, children's books, Family, Inspiration, joy, picture books, reading aloud, wonder | Tagged , | 50 Comments

A Glow In The Darkness Is The Best Gift Of All

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Jennie

Thank you, Bruce, for posting one of Craig Wilson’s columns.  He was a weekly writer for USA Today, “The Final Word” – what a Christmas delight.  Yes, it is a reminder of how simple and magical the season can be.

walkingoffthechessboard

In May, 2013 a columnist by the name of Craig Wilson took his final bow after a buyout from his employer, USA Today. He wrote a Wednesday column called “The Final Word” for more than sixteen years. His weekly writing – regardless of the subject matter – provided readers a unique, thoughtful take on even the most take-for-granted aspects of daily life.

One of his columns dealt with December decorations. Specifically, displays that provide a depth of feeling that make passers-by smile and project the spirit of the holidays upon them.

I present this gentle reminder of just how simple, yet magical, this season can be…

A Glow In The Darkness Is The Best Gift Of All

Every December, a neighbor of ours opens his dining room shutters and lets in the world.

A floor-to-ceiling tree, laden with ornaments and white lights, fills the bay window. Underneath it is spread…

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Grandma Moses

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Jennie
Queen of Christmas: the wondrous snowy landscapes that made Grandma Moses as big as Jackson Pollock

THEGUARDIAN.COM
Queen of Christmas: the wondrous snowy landscapes that made Grandma Moses as big as Jackson Pollock.

As soon as I saw this article, shared by the Bennington Museum in Bennington, VT, I knew I needed to tell her story, my story, and the museum’s story.

Let’s start with Grandma Moses, her story and very interesting life, told by THEGUARDIAN:

The upstate New York farmer took up painting at 76 and was soon a star, her ‘old-timey’ scenes proving perfect for stamps, curtains and Christmas cards – saving her from a life of raising chickens.

I had always wanted to paint,” Anna Mary Robertson Moses once said. “But I just didn’t have time – until I was 76.” The artist, who became known as Grandma Moses, was hailed for her wide-eyed, childlike wonder which she channelled into paintings of often wintry landscapes depicting scenes of daily life.

Born in 1860, the third of 10 children raised on a farm in upstate New York, Moses became a servant for a wealthy neighbouring farmhouse at the age of 12, carrying out domestic duties such as cooking, sewing and cleaning. After 13 years of this, she married Thomas Salmon Moses and the couple went on to have 10 children – with only five surviving past infancy. Never wealthy, they settled on farms in Virginia and later in upstate New York, where Moses made crisps on the side for extra income.

In 1927, after Thomas died from a heart attack, their son Forrest was tasked with helping his mother look after the farm. When Moses later moved in with her daughter, she adopted the monikers Mother Moses or Grandma Moses, and her life began to change. Although she was a lifelong embroiderer, who had spent her evenings making quilts for friends and relatives, she developed arthritis at the age of 76. It was the mid-1930s and Moses turned instead to painting, after her sister suggested that a brush might be easier to hold than a needle. “If I didn’t start painting,” Moses once joked, “I would have raised chickens.”

Painting from her vivid imagination – without even an easel and using her bedroom or kitchen as a studio – Moses drew on the joyous memories of her long life. She employed simple, formulaic methods, painting from the top down. “First the sky,” she said, “then the mountains, then the hills, then the trees, then the houses, then the cattle and then the people.” But most of all, painting was a way to recreate the “old-timey” country landscapes of her past. Moses would paint for five hours straight. “I’ll get an inspiration,” she said, “and start painting; then I’ll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live.”

Her output was prolific and she soon found success. Within a matter of years, after showing her paintings alongside her homemade jam at the local county fair, her work was “discovered” by a prominent New York collector, who saw it in a drugstore window. Gallery representation soon followed and, by 1939, Moses had featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, affirming her status as a household name.

Did 25 paintings at the age of 100 … Grandma Moses.
Did 25 paintings at the age of 100 … Grandma Moses. Photograph: PhotoQuest/Getty Images

With her shows breaking attendance records, Moses was soon exhibiting in more than 30 states and in countries across Europe. Branching out into commercial markets, her paintings appeared on US stamps, jam jars, curtains and greetings cards, particularly Christmas ones. Hallmark alone sold 16 million Moses cards in 1947. She was even thought to be more popular than Jackson Pollock. When Life magazine published an article about Pollock in 1949, Moses was the reason it had to write its subhead as a question: “Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?”

Having dedicated most of her life to household chores, Moses spent the following three decades producing over 1,500 paintings, until her death at 101. An astonishing 25 were painted after she turned 100. When Moses painted landscapes in different seasons, she kept her trademark style, omitting any signs of industrialisation and instead focusing on the natural landscape.

This gave the results a timeless feel but it is her snow-filled scenes – filled with glitter for a shimmering effect – that evoke the delights of winter, with their powdered-lined roofs, burning chimneys, white speckled trees, children in mismatched hats and scarves sledging or helping to carry logs. Even the looming grey sky in 1946’s Out for Christmas Trees appears more inviting than ominous.

Moses’s paintings are celebrations of life. Viewing them almost like a diary, she said: “I have written my life in small sketches, a little today, a little yesterday, as I thought of it, as I remembered all the things from childhood on through the years, good ones and unpleasant ones, that is how they come and that is how we have to take them.”

In 1960, as she celebrated turning 100, the governor of New York declared 7 September, her birthday, Grandma Moses Day – and Life magazine put her on the cover.

Personally, I like the December 28, 1953 TIME magazine cover.

What is it about winter?  Do you see the background?  The article focuses on her winter paintings, too.

They are special.  Irving Berlin had one.  I have seen them – up close.  She had a secret- very fine white glitter.  You can only see it looking closely at the painting.  It made a difference.

I saw these winter paintings at the Bennington Museum.  Did you know the museum is the primary ‘keeper’ of Grandma Moses art?  Their display is wonderful.  They also have artifacts, such as her brushes, paints, table, chair, and a jar of her fine white glitter.  They have an interview running on a screen with Grandma Moses and Edward R. Murrow.  It is priceless.

My childhood was spent staring at a Grandma Moses painting with a hill and a gray barn.  It hung in the breakfast room, so every breakfast and lunch I looked at that painting.  It spoke to me.  Grandma Moses speaks to many people.  When Hubby and I moved to Massachusetts we were anxious to see the Grandma Moses exhibit.  Well, I couldn’t wait!  There is nothing better than ‘live’, from music to art.  I was in heaven.  I felt like a child.

The Bennington Museum is special to me in two ways, because that first visit was about Grandma Moses (expected), and also about their Haitian quilts exhibit (unexpected), the beginning of Milly the Quilter.  For new bloggers, Milly the Quilter had an amazing 10-year span in my classroom.  Our quilts are on big-time display.  More importantly, Milly was like Grandma Moses.  She understood and treasured the simple things in life, and turned them into an adventure.

Thank you Grandma Moses and Milly.  You get it.  You have made a huge contribution to this world.  The children in my class will forever remember.

Jennie

P.S. Grandma Moses’s first childhood memory was driving into town on a horse and buggy.  She saw black drapings everywhere and people crying.  Abraham Lincoln had died.  She was five years old.

Posted in art, Imagination, Inspiration, museums, quilting, The Arts, wonder | Tagged , , , | 72 Comments

Army Navy

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Jennie

This is a post from last year’s Army/Navy game.  I couldn’t say it better, and it bears repeating.  Today’s game was equally exciting.  I must add that next year’s Army/Navy game will be held at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.  Yes, here!  I am already excited and have reached out for tickets.  It’s far more than a football game, it’s an event, and… well, read on.

Today was the 122nd Army-Navy football game.  I watch it every year.  I am glued, because it is far more than a football game.  It is a rivalry between brothers.  I call it a ‘band of brothers’, much like how it was in WWI and WWII.  They are warriors on the football field, and the war field.  They live their lives with respect, purpose, honor, integrity, and kindness.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Our son was a Naval Academy graduate in 2003.  When he was in high school, he was assigned to a Blue and Gold Officer, someone who could answer his questions, and judge if he had the ‘right stuff’.  The three words he said have resonated with me ever since:

Ship.  Shipmate.  Self.

It’s what the Navy lives by.  It’s Life-101.  First take care of your ship, then take care of your shipmate.  Lastly take care of yourself.  Ever since I heard those three words I have incorporated that philosophy into my teaching and classroom.  Modern terms say ‘kindness’ and ‘giving’.  The Navy knew that well over 100 years ago.

I was lucky to attend the 100th Army-Navy football game.  That was when I understood.  The stands were full of people who could have been my dear friends.  Honestly, I could have left my seat and asked someone nearby to watch my belongings.  There were ‘Spirit Spots’, spoofs made by the Midshipmen and Black Knights on the giant video screen.  Parachuters landed on the 50-yard line.  The home team ran the football from Annapolis to the stadium.  I got an email today from a friend who was stuck in traffic outside of New York; Army (this year’s home team) was running the football into the stadium.  Our son was part of Navy’s 13th Company who ran the ball from Annapolis onto the field in 1999.


Army was cheering today.

‘
Navy was cheering today.  That is my great nephew.

Tradition runs deep.  Tradition is a foundation.  It builds who we are.  The tradition at the end of the Army-Navy game is singing the Alma Mater.  That’s ship.  The team who wins joins the other team as they sing their Alma Mater.  That’s Shipmate.. The team who wins then sings their own Alma Mater.  That’s Self.


Army singing their Alma Mater


Navy singing their Alma Mater

The Naval Academy has a beautiful Japanese brass bell on the campus (now a replica), a gift from Commodore Matthew Perry in 1854.  The bell is only rung when Navy beats Army.  It has been a number of years since the ringing of that bell.  Tradition lives on.  When that bell rings, winning the football game is important, yet what that win means is far more important – hard work, brotherhood, team work… and all the values of Army-Navy football.

Jennie

Posted in America, Expressing words and feelings, Family, Inspiration, Learning About the World, military | Tagged , , | 43 Comments

beginning…

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Jennie

Thank you, Beth, for sharing this beautiful video of reindeer under the aurora from the Aurora Borealis Observatory.

I didn't have my glasses on....

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=787006252392996

Aurora Borealis Observatory

 Reindeer under the aurora

—

“i always believe that the sky is the beginning of the limit.”

-MC Hammer

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Family, and a Trip into Boston

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Jennie

Family!  That word is powerful, for it’s how we grow, and how we ‘become’.  It is our source of support and extended love, even though it can be tumultuous at times.

I tell my preschool class that we are a family, because we are.  I share my own family stories.  I’ll be sharing today’s events with them, too.  They are filled with adventure, worry, help, wonder, and sticking together.  That’s what we do at school as a family, and that’s what I did with my family.


Our daughter and grandchildren arrived from the west coast.
It’s been over a year.

Today we went into Boston.  The New England Aquarium was #1 on the list.  Riding the train and taking the subway was #2.  It was not easy.  Navigating Boston’s commuter rail system is not for the faint of heart.  The first stop was the train station.


All the train lines are purple.

At last we arrived at North Station in Boston.  It’s the central location where every subway line connects.  In Boston it’s called the T, not the subway.  This is where we felt alone and a little worried.  Hey, I’ve ridden the T, but when you’re at the hub of all the connecting lines, it is very daunting.

We figured it out.  Of course!  That’s what families do.  The ticket to get onto the T is a Charlie Card.  My goodness, I didn’t know Charlie Cards were still around.

When I was a teenager and played the ukulele, everybody’s favorite song was M.T.A. by the Kingston Trio.  The song is about a man named Charlie and riding the M.T.A. in Boston.  Today the cards are named for Charlie.  And people call the M.T.A. the T.


We were on our way!

We were on the Orange Line and needed to connect to the Blue Line.  Does that statement alone make you feel a little stressed or worried?  As soon as we got off the Orange Line, we followed the path… yet there was no Blue Line.  We ended up outside on the street.  For those of you who have never been to Boston, the city is a wonderful mix of old and new.  The streets are narrow and winding, the opposite of cities with streets built on a grid.

Our goal, our destination, was the New England Aquarium.  We had an address, but GPS walking directions were terrible.  It’s been ages since I walked around the center of Boston.  We felt very alone, a teeny bit worried, and just needed a good map; a fold-out map that shows where you are in relation to everything else.  Why doesn’t everyone realize this is a golden tool?

Someone saw us and must have realized we needed help.  Yes, good people are everywhere.  Really.  A point in the right direction and we were on our way.  Walking in Boston was delightful, once we (kind of) knew where we were going.

We arrived at the New England Aquarium.  It is world famous in teaching about ocean life, and their animal rescues.  Outside the museum are pools of sea lions, tanks of sharks, and more.  Inside the museum is the exhibit of penguins in a natural habitat.

They swim, dive, climb rocks, spar with other penguins, and more.

Then comes the main exhibit, a gigantic round fish tank that is the central part of the aquarium.  People walk up and around the tank, watching fish that live on the ocean floor, to watching fish that live close to the surface.

There are many individual tanks of ocean life.


The old tortoise at the top of the big tank made me smile,
I wanted to watch him for hours.


This was my favorite.

Family is always an adventure, ups and downs, laughs and tears.  It’s a good thing that love is the glue.

Jennie

Posted in Family, Love, museums, Nature, trains, wonder | Tagged , , , | 72 Comments

Rainbows

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Jennie

 “Jennie!  Come quick!  There’s a rainbow in the bathroom.”

What a surprise.
Everyone clamored into the bathroom
for a look, to put their hands onto the rainbow.
The rainbow miraculously appeared on little hands.
Sometimes wonder needs no words.

The sun was starting to come into the classroom.
Children decided to build with colored translucent blocks,
hoping to get a rainbow.

The colors were beautiful.
Look carefully, as ‘people’ are appearing
tucked away into every corner.
They’re the rainbow makers.

After snack the sunlight moved and streaked across the floor.
One of the colored blocks was on the floor, the red one,
and the floor was colored in red.
“Let’s make our own rainbow!  Everyone, grab a block
and put it on the floor in the sunlight.”

Did you know that a silent smile is more powerful than
a loud applause?

Jennie

Posted in art, Inspiration, Nature, Teaching young children, wonder | Tagged , , , | 67 Comments