Pam Hartley

Mine are 7 and 4 and believe. I have started to lay groundwork, though, for
the future. We talk a lot about myths and make-believe and I'm getting a lot
of questions these days about, "Is this real?" from my 7 year old. The
latest was Pokemon. I knew she was hoping desperately they WERE real, so I
let her down easy, the one before that was a dead body on a TV drama and she
was relieved to know it was an actor.

I believe in some aspects of Santa myself (the spirit of altruistic giving
at Christmas time) so I don't mind the girls believing in the actual jolly
fat guy for awhile. If they are upset down the road, I'll apologize for not
being more factual than fun, but for now, I think we're doing the right
thing.

Part of anyone's decision may be how they felt when they found out as
children - I was filled with a sense of my own cleverness (not an unusual
reaction from me <g>) in figuring it out, followed quickly by a
determination to intentionally continue to believe at a certain level.

Pam
----------
From: "Karin" <curtkar@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Santa and unschooling
Date: Tue, Dec 18, 2001, 8:47 PM


Something I've been wondering.
How does Santa fit in with unschooling?
How many here have kids who believe in Santa?
What age, if any, should this belief stop?

My kids do believe in Santa. They are 8 & 10.
I am beginning to squirm.
I would love to hear how other's have handled this, and still managed to
maintain some dignity for their kids.
I'm beginning to wonder if we have handled this the wrong way.
My thinking has changed a lot since we've started unschooling, including my
thoughts about Santa.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Helen Hegener

At 9:47 PM -0700 12/18/01, Karin wrote:
>(some of you may receive this message twice!)

And some of us may answer it twice!

>How many here have kids who believe in Santa?
>What age, if any, should this belief stop?

I have five kids, ages 15 through 28, who still believe in Santa, as
I do myself.

Perhaps it's time to share a favorite old classic. My kids especially
loved it because my mother's name is Virginia, and they liked to
imagine that she might have asked the question answered by Francis P.
Church over 100 years ago:

<http://www.barricksinsurance.com/virginia.html>http://www.barricksinsurance.com/virginia.html

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Editorial printed in the New York Sun in 1897.

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication
below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its
faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor---

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no
Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please
tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by
the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they
see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by
their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or
children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere
insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world
about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the
whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love
and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and
give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would
be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as
if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then,
no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should
have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with
which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.
You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa
Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus,
but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real
things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.
Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but
that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or
imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest
man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever
lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push
aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory
beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is
nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand
years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will
continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Karin

Something I've been wondering.
How does Santa fit in with unschooling?
How many here have kids who believe in Santa?
What age, if any, should this belief stop?

My kids do believe in Santa. They are 8 & 10.
I am beginning to squirm.
I would love to hear how other's have handled this, and still managed to maintain some dignity for their kids.
I'm beginning to wonder if we have handled this the wrong way.
My thinking has changed a lot since we've started unschooling, including my thoughts about Santa.

Karin



(some of you may receive this message twice!)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Karin

We never celebrated Christmas when I was growing up. :-/
I never "found out" about Santa.
This is all new to me.
Thanks for your response, Pam.

Karin



Pam wrote:

Part of anyone's decision may be how they felt when they found out as
children - I was filled with a sense of my own cleverness (not an unusual
reaction from me <g>) in figuring it out, followed quickly by a
determination to intentionally continue to believe at a certain level.

Pam


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Karin

Thanks again, Helen!

Karin



Helen wrote:

>And some of us may answer it twice!

>How many here have kids who believe in Santa?
>What age, if any, should this belief stop?

>I have five kids, ages 15 through 28, who still believe in Santa, as
>I do myself.

>Perhaps it's time to share a favorite old classic. My kids especially
>loved it because my mother's name is Virginia, and they liked to
>imagine that she might have asked the question answered by Francis P.
>Church over 100 years ago:

<http://www.barricksinsurance.com/virginia.html>http://www.barricksinsurance.com/virginia.html

>Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

kayb85

My parents always told my brother and I the truth about Santa and my
husband and I have chosen to do the same with our children. There is
never a time in their lives when we lie to our kids and tell them that
Santa is real. We have Santa decorations, we visit him at the mall,
read Santa books. However, my kids know it's just fun make-believe.

I did make sure that I told my kids not to tell any of their friends
the truth about Santa out of respect for their parents' wishes.

Sheila


--- In AlwaysLearning@y..., "Karin" <curtkar@h...> wrote:
> Something I've been wondering.
> How does Santa fit in with unschooling?
> How many here have kids who believe in Santa?
> What age, if any, should this belief stop?
>
> My kids do believe in Santa. They are 8 & 10.
> I am beginning to squirm.
> I would love to hear how other's have handled this, and still
managed to maintain some dignity for their kids.
> I'm beginning to wonder if we have handled this the wrong way.
> My thinking has changed a lot since we've started unschooling,
including my thoughts about Santa.
>
> Karin
>
>
>
> (some of you may receive this message twice!)
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

As a heathen, I find Santa fascinating. We all celebrate Santa to the hilt.
You just won't find a manger scene here!

Our motto: "If you don't believe, you don't receive!" (said in the Johnny
Cochran voice!)

We even went so far as to have a friend who dresses up as Santa for many
charities in town to come over late one night a week before Christmas (this
was when my oldest son was 5 or 6). We removed the fireplace screen, set out
cookies and milk, lit the tree, etc. The place looked exactly like the house
on Xmas eve. With the video camera on, we taped "Santa" as he backed out of
the fireplace with his bag. He put all the presents under the
tree---including the new bike, stuffed the stockings, ate his cookies and
drank his milk, and hung candy canes on the tree.

The clean up from that was far worse than the cleanup Christmas morning!

Christmas eve, after we removed the screen, set out the milk and cookies,
etc. AGAIN, my husband had the "really neat idea" to set up the video camera
to "catch Santa in the act". Cameron was SOOOO excited to see the film the n
ext morning: he had PROOF that there was a Santa for YEARS even when his
friends insisted there wasn't.

I was teribbly worried about the "truth" when he got older. But by then, he
had a younger brother (8 years apart) and was willing to "play Santa" for
him. So the let-down wasn't bad. There had been MUCH talk of fantasy and
fairy tales and spirits up to that point too---it was kind of a natural
growing-up progression.

"Santa" was here today for a party for the 5-6 year olds. Cameron was
excited, as an almost 14 year old, to see Hal and they talked a while about
the film and how many parties Hal has left before Christmas.

We also celebrate Nicholas Day on the 6th (since Cameron was born in
Germany)---and he fills shoes with candy and fruit and nuts. You can NEVER
have enough Santa!

Santa also doesn't come to a dirty house, so it gets right clean here on the
24th!

Hey, the tooth fairy's big here too! She leaves beautiful coins (foreign
coins or silver or gold dollars) and fairy dust (glitter) everywhere!
The Easter bunny leaves bunny turds (mini-marshmallows) and bunny dust
(xxxsugar) all over the house. (I vacuum a lot)
And you ought to see what kind of havoc those leprechauns can create! Green
EVERYwhere!

We LOVE fantasy creatures! There's a lot of fantastic stuff that happens
everyday; we just really go crazy on a holiday. I can't speak for Duncan (5),
but Cameron has always loved the idea of Santa. And he said that he had no
problem with finding out---and over the years, he's thought of several new
"tricks" for the leprechauns and those slippery elves that show up every year
as we trim the tree!

Long live Santa!

Kelly

[email protected]

In a message dated 12/18/2001 10:17:08 PM Pacific Standard Time,
kbcdlovejo@... writes:


> Santa also doesn't come to a dirty house, so it gets right clean here on the
>
> 24th!

Zowie - I blew it big time, didn't I? If I'd only thought of THAT about 17
years ago, maybe we'd have decided to invite Santa to come to our house,
too!!!!

--pam


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 12/19/2001 2:25:37 AM Eastern Standard Time,
PSoroosh@... writes:


> Zowie - I blew it big time, didn't I? If I'd only thought of THAT about 17
> years ago, maybe we'd have decided to invite Santa to come to our house,
> too!!!!
>

Unfortunately, it only works twice a year---The Easter bunny likes clean
houses too!

K



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

oldpriss

My 10yo son very much believed in Santa until this year. It was
worrying me because I had a nephew who at 13 found out the truth and
it really upset him. He'd been telling his friends for years that of
course Santa was real, his parents wouldn't lie to him. When he found
out he was furious with them and didn't trust them nearly as much as
he had before. So I kept hoping my son would question me about Santa
so I could tell him. He never did. Before Easter this year I worked
the subject around to the Easter Bunny in such a way that he did ask
me about that reality. I told him, with reassurances of continuing
visits by said bunny and lots of love in those visits. He cried :-(
He went away, came back and asked about the tooth fairy. I told him,
he nodded. He went away and cried some more then came back and
said, "Please tell me that Santa is real, that it's not just you." I
just hugged him and he knew and he cried a LOT. I don't know how I
should have handled the whole thing better but that much crying was
not a sign that I'd done the right thing. He wouldn't even discuss it
for a while after that but gradually got around to jokes about me
ruining his childhood and spoiling his innocence! Now that it is
close to Christmas, he is back to being happy about Santa even
knowing what he knows. He's been working on a Santa website. He's
sewed a felt Santa for a decoration. He bought a couple of Santa
figurines this year. All seems to be well, thank goodness.

Priss

The Mowery Family

>
> Part of anyone's decision may be how they felt when they found out as
> children - I was filled with a sense of my own cleverness (not an unusual
> reaction from me <g>) in figuring it out, followed quickly by a
> determination to intentionally continue to believe at a certain level.


I found out there was no Santa when I was seven. I went snooping in my
mothers closet and found the Barbie Bubble Bath talked it over with my
classmates in 2nd grade and they told me if it was under the tree with
"Santa" on it, I would really know there was no Santa Claus. Well, I was so
afraid of bursting the bubble for my parents that I held on to the fantasy
for another 2 years before I told them I knew the truth. My parents got
SOOO excited for christmas, etc "I" had to let them down easy. My fathers
family had this elaborate christmas eve celebration when he was young and it
was so fun maybe he didn't want to give it up, I will never know.

In our home now, we have "mom and dad" gifts and "Santa" gifts. Gifts do
not go under the tree until Christmas Eve. We celebrate St. Nicholas day on
December 6th(a family/german tradition). We talk quite a bit about the
spirit of christmas, the spirit of the Santa figure etc, but Dana has yet to
dive full and ask questions. I told her that the tooth fairy wasn't real
and she said, "Mom, you just don't know about fairies and wishes". So, I
dropped it - we will cross the Santa/Easter/Fairy bridge when we come to it
next time.

Karen M.

[email protected]

My niece was TERRIFIED of Santa. She was scared scared SCARED silly that he'd
come in their house during the night. I can't remember how old she was
exactly, but maybe 3, when she realized that they had NO FIREPLACE. She was
GLEEFULL -- there was no WAY Santa could get into their house if they were
careful to lock the doors and windows!!!! My sister and bil didn't know what
to do -- she seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Santa had come the year
before (maybe she assumed they'd left a window open or something). She was so
SURE and so HAPPY that Santa wouldn't come - they didn't know what to do
about it. My sister and bil are serious traditionalists - it was just killing
them to think of not having Santa at all. So - somebody said to my niece, "I
bet Santa will leave your presents at Grandma's house, if he can't get into
your house." That was FINE with her -- she was thrilled. So - that's what my
sister and bil did for years -- put all my niece's Santa presents at my mom's
house - just a few blocks away - and they'd all get up on Christmas morning
and go over there in their jammies and slippers and open Santa presents.
She'd give them cocoa and toast and I'm sure my mom just really loved it!!!

I'm glad they were creative with their solution - because it turned out so
nice.

--pam

Tia Leschke

At 06:10 AM 19/12/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>My parents always told my brother and I the truth about Santa and my
>husband and I have chosen to do the same with our children. There is
>never a time in their lives when we lie to our kids and tell them that
>Santa is real. We have Santa decorations, we visit him at the mall,
>read Santa books. However, my kids know it's just fun make-believe.

I did much the same with my two older kids. But my second husband had done
the whole Santa thing with his daughter so I went along with it. Then we
did the same with our son. I was uncomfortable with it at first, but then
I realized my husband's reasons. He *loves* giving, and his favorite way
of giving is anonymously. All those presents from Santa were presents that
he wasn't taking credit for giving.

My step-daughter remembers being a bit disappointed when she found
out. (She refused to believe my older son when he told her Santa wasn't
real, which he wasn't supposed to do. It wasn't until my mother told her
that the Easter Bunny wasn't real that she accepted that Santa and the
Tooth Fairy probably weren't real either. LOL!)

Lars seems to have figured out the truth around age 7, but he never
admitted it until I finally asked a year or two ago. (He's 14.) I don't
think it hurt either of them, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. (Then
again, I won't be doing the kid thing again, so it's a moot point.)
Tia

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
*********************************************
Tia Leschke
leschke@...
On Vancouver Island

[email protected]

In a message dated 12/18/01 10:55:01 PM, curtkar@... writes:

<< How does Santa fit in with unschooling?
How many here have kids who believe in Santa?
What age, if any, should this belief stop? >>

Well, at our house, Santa was a much celebrated figure -- still is, although
this is the first year both my kids know for certain that I do much of the
Santa stuff (they're 12 and 9).

Nick was content to pretend along and would have never mentioned the fact
that he knew -- but Emma, my passionate demanding child, had to have the
truth out there. She was fine with it. She was amused by all that I'd gone
through to create and sustain the myth. And I still believe ... ;-)

It was a good thing. For us.

Sharon

Karin

>In our home now, we have "mom and dad" gifts and "Santa" gifts. Gifts do
>not go under the tree until Christmas Eve. We celebrate St. Nicholas day on
>December 6th(a family/german tradition). We talk quite a bit about the
>spirit of christmas, the spirit of the Santa figure etc, but Dana has yet to
>dive full and ask questions. I told her that the tooth fairy wasn't real
>and she said, "Mom, you just don't know about fairies and wishes". So, I
>dropped it - we will cross the Santa/Easter/Fairy bridge when we come to it
>next time.

>Karen M.



This is how it is at our house, too, except for the St. Nicholas day, although we are part german! Santa gives way more gifts than mom and dad.
The tooth fairy is a regular, too, except some nights she is forgetfull and the poor kids have to try again the next night! The second try always works.

Karin
also wishing I had a snappy nickname


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

meghan anderson

<<<<Something I've been wondering.
How does Santa fit in with unschooling?
How many here have kids who believe in Santa?
What age, if any, should this belief stop?

My kids do believe in Santa. They are 8 & 10.
I am beginning to squirm. I would love to hear how
other's have handled this, and still managed to
maintain some dignity for their kids. I'm beginning to
wonder if we have handled this the wrong way.
My thinking has changed a lot since we've started
unschooling, including my thoughts about Santa.

Karin>>>>

Karin,
Tamzin (age 7) was told this year (by friends that
have never believed in Santa) that there's no Santa.
She then came to me and asked me directly if there is
a Santa Claus. I told her the truth as I see it. I
told her that there was no Santa in the way that he
comes down the chimney, but that to me he will always
exist in spirit. I told her that for me Santa is the
spirit of giving. This happened about 6 months ago. A
few weeks ago, Tamzin informed me that she thinks that
there IS a Santa (as in a real man in a red suit) and
that's that. So Santa will still be leaving presents
for her this year. And life goes on. She will give up
the literal belief in Santa when she's ready, at her
own speed, just as we approach the rest of her
'education'.

Meghan

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com

Karin

My boys have also been told by friends that there is no Santa. They simply do not believe it.
They have not come right out and specifically asked the question to me.
I imagine when/if they do, I will say something like you said below.
I like the way you put it. You are not really saying "yes" or "no". It is more open-ended.

And this sentence, I believe, is where Santa and unschooling fit together:

>She will give up the literal belief in Santa when she's ready, at her own speed, just as we approach the rest of her
>'education'.

Thanks, Meghan.



Karin



Meghan wrote:
Tamzin (age 7) was told this year (by friends that
have never believed in Santa) that there's no Santa.
She then came to me and asked me directly if there is
a Santa Claus. I told her the truth as I see it. I
told her that there was no Santa in the way that he
comes down the chimney, but that to me he will always
exist in spirit. I told her that for me Santa is the
spirit of giving. This happened about 6 months ago. A
few weeks ago, Tamzin informed me that she thinks that
there IS a Santa (as in a real man in a red suit) and
that's that. So Santa will still be leaving presents
for her this year. And life goes on. She will give up
the literal belief in Santa when she's ready, at her
own speed, just as we approach the rest of her
'education'.

Meghan


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

meghan anderson

<<<<Hey, the tooth fairy's big here too! She leaves
beautiful coins (foreign coins or silver or gold
dollars) and fairy dust (glitter) everywhere!
The Easter bunny leaves bunny turds
(mini-marshmallows) and bunny dust
(xxxsugar) all over the house. (I vacuum a lot)
And you ought to see what kind of havoc those
leprechauns can create! Green EVERYwhere!

We LOVE fantasy creatures! There's a lot of fantastic
stuff that happens everyday; we just really go crazy
on a holiday. I can't speak for Duncan (5),
but Cameron has always loved the idea of Santa. And he
said that he had no problem with finding out---and
over the years, he's thought of several
new "tricks" for the leprechauns and those slippery
elves that show up every year as we trim the tree!

Long live Santa!

Kelly>>>>

Wow! The holidays at your house sound fun! I would
like to implement some of those ideas around here. I
especially like the fairy dust and leprechaun ideas.
Tamzin will love the 'bunny turd' thing! What do the
elves get up to?

Meghan :-)


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com

[email protected]

In a message dated 12/19/2001 11:59:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,
moonmeghan@... writes:


>
> Wow! The holidays at your house sound fun! I would
> like to implement some of those ideas around here. I
> especially like the fairy dust and leprechaun ideas.
> Tamzin will love the 'bunny turd' thing! What do the
> elves get up to?
>
I sprinkle xxxsugar in a "bunny trail" with marshmallow "turds" throughout
the house from the front door to whereever the baskets are hidden. The first
time we did this, Cameron was 3. I pointed it out and then reached down and
said, "Look, Easter Bunny poop!" and ATE one! He must've thought I'd lost my
mind. His eyes were HUGE! The Easter Bunny has also made a pizza garden
during the night (a divided circle in the garden made of marigold seeds with
tomato seeds, pepper seeds, basil, & onions.) He was so excited about that
Easter present---and that the bunny did it all that night.

The leprechauns are really bad. There's green everywhere---all the windows
are painted green (tempera with liquid soap). The mirrors have Irish sayings
written in green lipstick. The walkways are covered in green chalk sayings
and drawings. A lot of the food has been turned green. They even managed to
paint his finger and toe nails with green nail polish one time and spray his
hair with green spray---heavy sleeper! The white parts on the dogs are dyed
green. They overturn trash cans, move furniture around, and of course leave
chocolate coins and gold hershey bars everywhere. We always have Lucky Charms
for breakfast and corned beef & cabbage for supper.

The elves arrive when we're trimming the tree---always on Dec 6th. The spy
from places all around the house (small pieces of felt that look like shoes
or hats "peek" out from behind furniture). We walk quietly around them so as
not to let on that we know they're there.Then suddenly they burst from behind
the grandfather clock in the hall, and my husband chases him through the
front yard with kids in tow. They've "seen" him and can even describe what he
wore. (Ben grabbed his hat one time!) They always leave chocolate candy in
special containers in different places (while the boys are in the yard and
running down the street) and maybe a note saying how kind the boys are. They
come back sometimes during the holidays and move presents and decorations
around and leave candy here and there.

Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

meghan anderson

<<<<I sprinkle xxxsugar in a "bunny trail" with
marshmallow "turds" throughout the house from the
front door to whereever the baskets are hidden. The
first time we did this, Cameron was 3. I pointed it
out and then reached down and said, "Look, Easter
Bunny poop!" and ATE one! He must've thought I'd lost
my mind. His eyes were HUGE! The Easter Bunny has also
made a pizza garden during the night (a divided circle
in the garden made of marigold seeds with tomato
seeds, pepper seeds, basil, & onions.) He was so
excited about that Easter present---and that the bunny
did it all that night.

The leprechauns are really bad. There's green
everywhere---all the windows are painted green
(tempera with liquid soap). The mirrors have Irish
sayings written in green lipstick. The walkways are
covered in green chalk sayings and drawings. A lot of
the food has been turned green. They even
managed to paint his finger and toe nails with green
nail polish one time and spray his
hair with green spray---heavy sleeper! The white parts
on the dogs are dyed green. They overturn trash cans,
move furniture around, and of course
leave chocolate coins and gold hershey bars
everywhere. We always have Lucky Charms
for breakfast and corned beef & cabbage for supper.

The elves arrive when we're trimming the tree---always
on Dec 6th. The spy
from places all around the house (small pieces of felt
that look like shoes or hats "peek" out from behind
furniture). We walk quietly around them
so as not to let on that we know they're there.Then
suddenly they burst from behind the grandfather clock
in the hall, and my husband chases him through the
front yard with kids in tow. They've "seen" him and
can even describe what he
wore. (Ben grabbed his hat one time!) They always
leave chocolate candy in special containers in
different places (while the boys are in the yard
and running down the street) and maybe a note saying
how kind the boys are. They come back sometimes during
the holidays and move presents and decorations around
and leave candy here and there.

Kelly>>>>

This is just great!! Thanks for sharing.

Meghan :-)

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com

Karin

Someone asked if adults still had and could use their imagination.
Meghan and Kelly - you guys are great! It must be so much fun living in your house. What an inspiration.
I lost my imagination a long time ago but you are helping me to get it back.
Thanks for sharing your fun ideas. :o)

Karin



<<<<Sometimes we 'stay' in a place for a week or two (boy, can that get confusing - to the rest of the world!). We really go for it and make the money, food (or an edible version thereof), clothing (Once I walked around for a week with my clothes on backwards! I'm sure people thought I was 'unbalanced'), decorate the house, and what ever else we can think of. It's so much fun. I highly recommend it! You could get the wand thing in there by waving it and reciting a *spell* before you go somewhere. It might help to make it more magical to do some of the prep work before you *go*. Have fun!

Meghan :-)>>>>>




<<<<I sprinkle xxxsugar in a "bunny trail" with marshmallow "turds" throughout the house from the front door to whereever the baskets are hidden.

The leprechauns are really bad. There's green everywhere---all the windows are painted green (tempera with liquid soap).

The elves arrive when we're trimming the tree---always on Dec 6th. The spy from places all around the house (small pieces of felt that look like shoes or hats "peek" out from behind furniture).
Kelly>>>>




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Tia Leschke

Requests for interesting books for kids to read or have read to them often
come up on list. My daughter sent me the list of books that she and her
partner have read to Skye in the last year. Thought some of you might be
interested. Some of these would be considered too old for her, but she's
enjoyed and understood them all.
Tia

" Ballet Shoes For Anna", by Noel Streetfield
"Grandmother Oma", by Ilse Kleberger
"Pippi Longstocking", by Astrid Lindgren
"The Boxcar Children", By Gertrude Chandler Warner
"The Secret Garden", Frances Hodgson Burnett
"The Adventures of Daniel Boon",
"The Boxcar Children, Mystery At Snowflake Inn" by Gertrude
Chandler Warner
"The Story of Ben Franklin", by Eve Merriam
"Helen Keller", By Stewart and Polly Anne Graff
"Stuart Little", by E.B. White
"The Marvellous Land of Oz", by L Frank Baum
"Ozma of Oz", by L Frank Baum
"The Patchwork Girl Of Oz", by L.Frank Baum
"Anne of Green Gables", L.M. Montgomery
"Glinda of Oz", by L Frank Baum
"My Side of The Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
"The Wizard Of Oz" by L Frank Baum
"Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White
"The Magician's Nephew" by C.S. Lewis
"Raggedy Ann Stories", by Johnny Gruelle
"The Bread and Butter Journey", by Anne Colver
"Escape to Witch Mountain", by Alexander Key
"Indian in the Cupboard", by Lynne Reid Banks
"James and The Giant Peach", by Roald Dahl
"The Magic of Oz", By L. Frank Baum
"The Root Cellar", by Janet Lunn
"Mary Poppins", by P.L. Travers
"Little House on the Prairie", By Laura Ingalls Wilder
"Mio My Son", by Astrid Lindgren
"Caddie Woodlawn", by Carol Ryrie Brink
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", by Roald Dahl
"The Castle in the Attic", by Elizabeth Winthrop
"My Father's Dragon," by Ruth Stiles Gannett
"The Midwife's Apprentice," by Karen Cushman
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," By J.K. Rowling
"Sara Crewe," By Frances Hodgson Burnett
"Miracle on 34th Street," by Valentine Davies

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
*********************************************
Tia Leschke
leschke@...
On Vancouver Island

meghan anderson

Hey Tia,

I notice there's some Roald Dahl on this list so I
thought I would recommend The BFG (stand for the big
friendly giant). It's a fantastic story!

Meghan :-)

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meghan anderson

Hey Tia,

I notice there's some Roald Dahl on this list so I
thought I would recommend The BFG (stand for the big
friendly giant). It's a fantastic story!

Meghan :-)

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Tia Leschke

At 03:59 AM 23/12/2001 -0800, you wrote:
>Hey Tia,
>
>I notice there's some Roald Dahl on this list so I
>thought I would recommend The BFG (stand for the big
>friendly giant). It's a fantastic story!

Skye watched the video of that a year or so ago and was angry that it was
in the children's section of the library. She said it was too scary. I
wasn't watching that day, so I have no idea why she didn't like it. And
most of her videos then were the half hour pre-school variety. Now she
watches feature length films, so she'd probably like that one now.
Tia

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
*********************************************
Tia Leschke
leschke@...
On Vancouver Island

meghan anderson

<<<<Skye watched the video of that a year or so ago
and was angry that it was in the children's section of
the library. She said it was too scary.
I wasn't watching that day, so I have no idea why she
didn't like it.
And most of her videos then were the half hour
pre-school variety. Now she watches feature length
films, so she'd probably like that one now.
Tia>>>>

The book is better than the video. As usual! Tamzin
watched the BFG when she was 6 & 1/2, I don't think
she would have been ready for it before then (she has
a low fear threshold - takes after me <g>).
Why does there usually have to be a bad guy (or scary
part) in a lot of kids videos? We watched the cartoon
version of The Secret Garden last week and Mrs Medlock
was out to KILL Colin and take over Mistlethwaite
Manor! Talk about twisting the story!

Meghan

Meghan :-)

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