Fun amongst the rush

I did a Christmas 'mini camp' for children yesterday. (I am doing one next Wednesday, as well.) I had so much fun! I only had 3 children (and one of them was Rhiannon, of course) but I decided to run it. The other two children (a boy and a girl) were both 4 years old. I love 4 year olds! They are so eager to learn and so easy to please! I made beeswax candles with them (from sheets) and then we wrapped them and they made a Christmas card. They made 4 candles each and were so excited to be giving something that they had made and that no one in their family knew what it was! They were even so excited to get to wrap it themselves... I took them on a hike into Becker Park which is an old, old volcano (from before the ice age). They loved the idea of being on top of a volcano - even though it just looked like a hill. I let them play in the snow in a couple of places and they were generally just playing all the time. 4 year olds have such magical imaginations! (5 year olds, too, for that matter) We were out for about an hour and a half. We played games, I read them stories, we painted. It was fun. (did I mention I love 4 year olds?) For the last activity, I had made gingerbread cookies (whole grain spelt gingerbread, actually). So first I got out the playdough and all the cookie cutters (and more) that I had used to make the cookies. They loved the play dough and payed with it for 1/2 an hour and would have kept going if I had let them. Then we pretended to bake all their cookies by putting the play dough away and I brought out the real cookies and icing and sprinkles and they decorated cookies to take home for their families. They took this very seriously - making something for their families. They were all so happy all day and so much fun to be around. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity.

Amongst all of that, I taught them. First I taught them about their bodies. They loved singing so we I taught them Hinges and Do As I'm Doing and we talked about all the wonderful things we can do with our bodies and how to look after them. Then I told them a story about emotions using puppets. Then we played a game that used our minds and we talked about how we use our minds to remember, solve problems, etc. Last, I taught them about spirit - listening to the still small voice and the magic of believing.

Today, I will canvas for washing windows and make peanut brittle... Dean is sicker so I will baby him. He finally got home late, late, late Monday night (well, early Tuesday morning would also be accurate). Then he had to wash windows yesterday. Today he will rest. I make him tea out of fresh ginger and lemon and that seems to help. At least it hasn't turned into bronchitis which it usually does for him. So, I'm off to make peanut brittle!