On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...
A freebie and a sneak peek
Every year at Christmastime, we watch Fiddler on the Roof. I don’t know what it is about the holidays that says musicals (or that we must watch Die Hard), but that’s just the way it is at my house. This year, watching it, it has hit a little different. My oldest is now a young adult studying for finals and working. My middle child is “too old” for things like making paper snowflakes and gingerbread houses (and yes, I would argue one is never too old for these things, but you remember what you were like at 14). My youngest has special needs, so I have needed to chill on my holiday cheer and stay pretty routine. We don’t want to swing into the new year on a wrecking ball.
So yes, Teyve, I get it. Tradition.
When the kids were younger, I made a banner out of scrapbook supplies for 25 days of Christmas fun. There would be baking days, handicraft gift-making days, giving days (my kids will forever remember driving around town leaving popcorn and gift cards on the side of Redboxes like a bunch of elf ninjas), and fun days filled with picnicking in front of the Christmas tree, driving around to look at lights, making Grinch floats and watching the movie, etc. I’m not quite sure how that time seems already gone, but here we are.
Every December I drag the Christmas china out of the buffet table. These are the same dishes that came out every year when I was a kid. They remind me of my grandpa dressing up as Santa and showing up on Christmas Eve to bring me a Cabbage Patch doll. They remind me of wild rice soup and that one time I wasn’t allowed to open presents until I finished my bowl. (I haven’t had wild rice soup since.) They remind me of the tortellini soup I’ve made every year for Christmas Eve since I started my own family, and how it will be waiting for us after Christmas Eve service this year, too. They remind me of traditions. Traditions that have gone, those that will come, and that weird in-between place that leaves us feeling an awful lot like Teyve.
: ) Mariah
Coming Up in CPQ
Booklists. Who doesn’t enjoy a good booklist? Each quarterly in Year 6 will include a booklist based on that quarterly’s theme curated by your CPQ team. This will be something fun we’ll include in the Mirth and Merriment section of the magazine, and you can pull from it as you see fit to add to your own education.
We’ll also be including some ways you can respond to the magazine. Was there an article that really hit home with you? Was there an idea of Charlotte Mason’s you forgot about until you read it in CPQ? Did the science of relations bring to mind a situation that you’d like to share with our readership? We’d love to hear from you! Our blog, here on Substack, exists for this, so we hope you’ll participate!
Thanks for hanging around for our 12 Days of Christmas fun! Tomorrow, if you’re a subscriber, we have a fun giveaway for you! Make sure you check out our Instagram tomorrow to enter.
Merry Christmas from all of us here at Common Place Quarterly!
Twelfth Day of Christmas Freebie
