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We share lots of Christmas related ideas, recipes and crafts in the Love Santa blog. You are welcome to comment or submit your own Christmas stories, too.

A very wombat Christmas – Christmas book review

A Very Wombat Christmas

by Lachlan Creagh
Hachette Australia, Sydney, 2015

Age group: primary school

Book cover of "A very wombat Christmas"The story

Based on the night before Christmas poem, this tale is about wombat trying to making Christmas beautiful for his friends. He cook, decorates and works hard to find the perfect gift for Emu.

My review

I really enjoyed this book – it has lovely pictures, is truly Australian and has a lovely story. It’s short – it is a picture book after all! – but no less worthy of being on a Christmas bookshelf for that.

My seven year old read it to his sister and I and we all enjoyed it. Watching wombat consider various options for Emu’s present is both fun and a reminder to get on with our own gift shopping! However, the final gift is thoughtful, affordable and a great example to set for young children.A sample page from "A very wombat Christmas"

A sample page from "A very wombat Christmas" picture bookThere are a number of other Wombat books by Lachlan Creagh, and I may just be tempted to get some of them based on our enjoyment of this one!

 

Lego advent day 16

So, moving onto day sixteen of the Christmas count down!

The Lego city advent calendar opened onto a policeman tonight, much to my son’s delight – “that’s part of my police set in the calendar!”

Lego police man in a plastic bag (unmade)

This is how the Lego is presented most days…

“And yours is part of your café theme – you’re getting quite a big café together now!” he told his sister after she found a sweets display stand in her Lego Friends calendar. It is basically a small table with a multi-layered cake and a lollipop on it.

Lego cake and lollipop stall

Special treats – cakes, lollipops!

And I must say that it finally registered to me tonight that the ‘ice-cream stall’ was actually a cake stall – the little ice-creams are actually cupcakes! And if you add that stall with the oven, mugs and tonight’s display, it is adding up to a little café which makes perfect sense for skiers and skaters!

If you missed what the calendars gave us yesterday, you can catch up on day fifteen. Read the introduction to our Lego advent reviews for the whole picture.

Lego advent day 15

We’re continuing our Lego advent calendar review and are up to flap number fifteen today…

My son’s hope from last night was fulfilled tonight with the discovery of a carriage for his train!

Lego people standing on a train carriage from the advent calendar

Lego Friends flap 15 opened up to a saucepan (which of course fits perfectly onto last night’s oven/stove), some mugs (for hot chocolate) and cakes. My daughter will happily play with it all, but wistfully asked me “I don’t get to build the big things much, do I?”

Lego oven, cakes and mugs from Friends advent calendar

Remember you can read introduction to our Lego advent reviews or catch up on day fourteen.

Wake Up, Bear… It’s Christmas! – Christmas book review

Wake Up, Bear… It’s Christmas!

by Stephen Gammell
William Heinemann, London, 1981

Age group: primary school

A sweet story about a bear who decided to enjoy Christmas rather than hibernate.Book cover of 'Wake up, Bear… It's Christmas!'

The story

Bear decides that he is missing out each year so he sets an alarm to wake him up on Christmas Eve. As he sits enjoying his fire, an old white-bearded man visits him and takes him on a sleigh ride.

My review

I liked the unusual aspect of this story – a bear waking up from hibernation for Christmas! My five year old and I both thought is strange on page one where it states ‘But he wasn’t going to be sleeping all winter’, but it was quickly explained and made a lovely basis for a story.

There is enough text on each page to keep middle primary kids interested, yet little enough to be enjoyed by younger children as well. Emergent readers could even read it themselves.

Bear has a wonderful Christmas which is a delight to read about, and of course the old man can be assumed to be Santa. It was heart warming and fun, but the timing seemed wrong. If the old man was indeed Santa, how did he have time on Christmas Eve to sit with Bear for hours before going on a sleigh joyride? To me, if the story had been set on Christmas night, it would have been better as then not only does Bear get company and enjoy his Christmas and Santa would be free to do his deliveries, the story would show Santa having a relaxing evening after his big night and that just would have added extra warmth to the book.

Inner spread from book "Wake up, Bear… It's Christmas!"So, Wake up Bear… it’s Christmas is a lovely book, with nice illustrations and rhyming text, that would be a happy addition to any bookshelf.

Wake Up, Bear… It\'s Christmas! – Christmas book review

Lego advent day 14

Moving onto day fourteen of the Christmas count down! Remember you can read introduction to our Lego advent reviews or catch up on day thirteen.

But onto tonight’s calendar… Lego City’s flap 14 revealed a red train engine. My son has already put the camera man in as a driver and has anticipated getting a train carriage in future calendar flaps.

Lego train from advent calendar

In complete contrast to last’s night find of an ice-cream stall, the Lego Friends calendar tonight produced an oven with a cake in it. Including a hinged door and a tray to sit the cake on, it is very cute and my daughter is quite happy with it.

Lego oven from advent calendar

 

Lego advent day 13

Lego city advent calendar flap for day 13

So we’re up to day 13 now, and excitement is building as we’re getting closer to Christmas – and summer holidays with only five school days left.

Strangely enough for a snow scene, Lego Friends today produced an ice-cream stall! Complete with mistletoe, two ice-creams and some money, Miss five enjoyed building the stall.

Updated to admit they were cupcakes not ice-creams on day 13, so it was a cupcake stall which makes more sense to me! It also means there were cupcakes sitting on the stall which also makes more sense than ice-creams pre-served like that.

Lego ice-cream stall in advent calendar

Does anyone really eat ice-creams while skiing and skating?

My son, on the other hand, got a robber with a crowbar and two hundred dollars in a sack. Don’t get me wrong, my son was happy enough finding that, but it doesn’t feel very Christmassy!

Lego robber beside Christmas tree

Let’s hope he doesn’t steal the Christmas tree or presents!

If you missed what the calendars gave us yesterday, you can catch up on day twelve. Read the introduction to our Lego advent reviews for the whole picture.

Lego advent day 12

Hop hop! A cute little white rabbit with a carrot and a shelter hopped out of flap 12 of the Lego Friends advent calendar this evening 🙂  Luckily, the shelter required some construction so everyone was happy with their Lego experience tonight (after last night’s disappointment).

Lego bunny in shelter with a snowman

The cute Lego bunny – the crown is from last night!

Both kids were excited by the bunny, and Miss five also enjoyed watching the bunny and snowman go skiing!

Lego bunny and snowman on skis

Over at Lego City, my son unwrapped and built two Christmas presents to go under the Christmas tree. Actually, he considers there to be three presents as a spare ‘bow’ (actually just a flat square) is a tiny gift 🙂

Lego presents udner a Christmas tree beside Santa's chair

The stage is set for Santa

Hop back to the start of our Lego advent reviews or catch up on yesterday’s.

Accepting Christmas cards

So just a few days after posting about the advantages of kids writing Christmas cards to their friends and classmates. I came across a story that shocked me.

Christmas card rejection story

CHristmas cards and candy canes across a table

Many children add a candy cane to friends’ Christmas cards

So the story is that a nine year old boy spent about two hours writing out cards for everyone in his class, including a picture for each child and adding in a candy cane each.

The next day, he handed out the cards and brought home some of them, minus the candy canes. When questioned, he told his mother that some kids didn’t want the cards so only took the candy canes.

My reaction

I am horrified that some kids could be so rude and disrespectful as to reject cards given to them in a spirit of generosity and care.

They could have at least taken the cards and thrown them in the recycling bin at home instead of refusing to take them. And as for taking the gift without the card – I just can’t comprehend being so rude.

That boy is like my children – he obviously put thought and effort into writing those cards and he deserved better treatment than he got. Even if you don’t like Christmas or cards, surely you can be taught to appreciate the thought and effort?

I don’t even accept that people who don’t believe in Christmas should act this way – if you refuse the card, you must also refuse the candy cane I’d say. And you can accept the card in the spirit it was given rather than take some high ground of not believing.

My son and I discussed cards for one of his classmates who is Muslim – he is aware she does not believe in Christmas and didn’t want to offend her with a card. However, I said let’s include her by giving her a happy new year card instead. Either way I can’t see her or her mother refusing to take the card as they understand it was out of my son’s respect she was given the card.

Is this common?

I have never before heard of anyone accepting only part of a gift and refusing the card attached. I certainly would not act this way nor allow my children to do so (not that they would – they always bring cards home proudly and want to display them).

Am I just lucky enough to be surrounded by people with more manners and appreciation for being given something? Or is this a rare instance of rudeness? In other words, have you ever come across this sort of behaviour?

Lego advent day 11

Wow, we’re already up to day eleven of advent calendars – Christmas will be here before we know it!

So, Lego Friends tonight revealed a little box holding a wand, crown and elf’s hat (plus a spare wand and spare crown). Miss five is now hoping an elf will turn up on another night, but for now we tried the elf’s hat on the snowman!

SNowman wearing elf hat near wands and crowns

And behind flap 11 in Lego City was a town clock with mistletoe/holly on it – it looks beautiful with the lamppost from a few days ago and yesterday’s Christmas tree.

Lego town clock, christmas tree and lamppost

Remember you can read the introduction to our Lego advent reviews or catch up on day 10. And if you’re interested in using a Lego advent calendar after reading our reviews, I don’t think it’s too late – the kids will just have the fun of opening lots in one go, or maybe make it two a day until you catch up. Especially as some places may have reduced the price a lot by now…

Names of the six white boomers

So most Aussies know that it is too hot in Australia for the reindeer (they are used to the snowy North Pole after all!) so six white boomers help Santa get around Down Under on Christmas Eve.

Many people are interested in the reindeer names, but did you know that the boomers also have individual names?

Six boomers pulling Sata's sleigh

The actual six white boomers song does not include the names, unlike the original Night before Christmas story, but they are included on the album by Rolf Harris when he produced the song in the 1960s.

Six White Boomers’ Names

So, the boomers who help Santa are…

  • Jackaroo
  • Curly
  • Bluey
  • Two-Up
  • Desert-Head
  • Snow

If you are not an Aussie, many of those names may seem a bit strange or foreign, but they seem fairly normal to me! Although many with a young child around will know the name Bluey for a certain blue heeler.

Names of the six white boomers

Lego advent day 10

There was a lot of excitement last night when my son opened flap ten of the Lego City advent calendar to find a Christmas tree! He enjoyed putting it together, placing it beside Santa’s seat and then ‘creating a scene’ (his words!) with all the parts of his calendar to date.

A Lego Christmas tree and Santa's seat (City advent calendar)

A lamp, a seat and a tree all waiting for Santa!

Combing a Lego girl's hair (Friends advent calendar)

Combing Lego hair!

On the other hand, my daughter was very disappointed to find she had nothing to make last night. That’s not to say she didn’t get much as she did – there was a bag of blue hair related items for her to play with instead. She has enjoyed brushing, combing and drying the Lego hair, and has added the crown and some hair accessories to one Lego girl so far.

By this morning, she was happy with what she got but still disappointed to not have built anything.

Lego skiier with hair accessories from the advent calendar

Lego Friends’ hair accessories on display

So again the calendars are fun but the City one is proving more engaging and closer to the idea of building Lego.

If you missed what the calendars gave us yesterday, you can catch up on day nine. Read the introduction to our Lego advent reviews for the whole picture.

Jokes from Christmas bonbons 2015

Pile of Christmas bon bonsLast Christmas, we had a lot of fun with a list of corny jokes from bonbons so I figured we’d do it again.

I’ll try to avoid copying any jokes we had last year but forgive me if I get any doubled up! The post will go up next week, but if you have any bonbons cracked before then, please email me the jokes and I’ll pop them in!

Using these jokes…

The obvious use of these jokes is to read them here and now and laugh 🙂

But I thought it would be nice to suggest other uses for these jokes, some of which are ideas from people last year.

  1. read them out on Christmas Eve as part of the build up to Santa’s arrival
  2. read then out at Christmas lunch, or randomly during Christmas Day (Hmm, does that mean you get twice the jokes or you don’t buy bonbons this year?!)
  3. share this page in social media so lots of people can get a laugh (or a groan as their sense of humour dictates!)
  4. use these jokes when making your own bonbons
  5. write out these jokes into Christmas cards or tuck them into Christmas gifts
  6. choose one or two and use them as an email signature for December
  7. use them as  Christmas countdown, sharing a different joke each day (Sorrowscal took this further last December when she made up a new joke each day!)

Let s know how you use these jokes 🙂

 

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