Martinmas for Older Kids

Martinmas is one of my favorite autumn events. For me it marks a turn toward the season of giving. At our Waldorf School only the young children go for a Martinmas lantern walk and hear the story of St. Martin who tore his cloak in two for a beggar. For years I have felt that by middle-school, the older children are ready to re-engage with the festival in a meaningful way. But, how to do it?

So, this year Martinmas began for Liz and her class about a week ago when they launched a food drive for a local nonprofit that is in dire straits because of the increased demand for food and clothing in Vermont. They doubled their goal for food and delivered it all on Friday afternon. I slipped into their classroom and snapped this little photo. The room was filled with food.

We invited her class and all their families to our house for a party that night. We knew that the kids were too old for a lantern walk, but weren't too old for lanterns and hanging out in the dark. So, we pulled out all our old lanterns (and after 15 years at a Waldorf School, we have A LOT--probably around 40-50). We have paper lanterns, tin lanterns, balloon lanterns, mason jar lanterns as well as about a dozen Ikea lanterns.

We lined a path with lanterns that ran from our drive up to our fire pit and put battery-powered strings of lights in the treehouse. There were lanterns hanging in trees and on stumps.

Even though the moon was just about full, it was spitting snow and so dark that we decided to make MORE lanterns. At first we decorated mason jars with tissue, but then decided to just put mason jars with tea lights out along the path. You can also see in this photo that I had just about every dish I owned out for dinner!

Nelson got a fire going and supervised hot cider, sausages, and s'mores up at the fire while I manned a massive potluck at the house. Here are most of the kids crammed in the dining room for dinner. I think the total number was 37.

My mudroom lived up to its name that night because with the spitting snow and kids running in and out, there was a lot of dirt, boots, coats, hats, and flashlights. In addition to just crazy fun in the dark, a teacher brought glow sticks and they had a big romping game of tag in the dark.

It really was a perfect end to the day. The kids were surrounded by lanterns, the adults got to visit (which we never get to do), and we all felt the spirit of the coming season. I really feel like we got Martinmas right for these older kids this year. And, from what I hear this week, they do too.

Read more...

The History Mystery

A few weeks ago I took a group of teachers (and Helen) on a mystery tour high up into the hills of Vermont. We walked through the bushes and found this house--really a tar-paper shack. We explored, questioned, compared old photos, and came to the conclusion that this house was more of a Tidewater Virginia house than a Vermont house. Which led to more questions....who lived here?

We looked at other evidence and found out that it had once belonged to Daisy Turner and her family.

Daisy Turner died at the age of 104 not too long ago. Her parents had both been slaves in Virginia. Her Father, born a slave, ran away from his plantation during the Civil War. Late in life, Daisy became her family’s historian, relating tales of her grandfather’s journey from Africa into slavery in Virginia, and her father’s eventual escape to freedom and life on a Vermont hill farm. You can hear Daisy tell her stories here.

The Vermont Folklife Center has published two of Daisy's stories as children's books. The first is Alec's Primer which is a story about her Father learning to read as a young boy.

The second, a favorite of ours, is Daisy and the Doll.

It was a very special afternoon to be on this land so close to our past. We listened to Daisy tell her stories via an Ipad, met with a folklorist (our mystery guest) who interviewed Daisy, looked at family photos, and thought about this extraordinary family's journey from Africa to New Orleans to Virginia to Vermont. We were touching history.

Read more...

Halloween

I recently created a book of last year's blog for the girls (using blurb). I splurged and had a copy made for each girl as I know how much they love to read them. While I was working on the book I reflected on why I blog and the fact that I haven't been blogging as much. I resolved to do a better job at recording our family's life as these entries are really family keepsakes. So, in light of that, I bring you Halloween in an effort to catch up.

This year Helen had a rehearsal and Liz decided that she didn't want to trick or treat as she had a costume party with friends the weekend before. In light of this, the only thing I did to prepare for Halloween was to purchase a pumpkin and get a bag of candy in case we had some trick or treaters. It was a little strange to think there would be no Halloween as the girls had always said it was their favorite holiday. Here they are a few years ago dressed as "light and dark."

On Halloween afternoon, the girls arrived home and suddenly realized they had to do something. They quickly carved the pumpkins which they named Paul and Ringo. My first surprise of the day was that they did this leaving no trace behind....they totally cleaned up.

They then created a festive Halloween dinner table, complete with kit kat bars tucked neatly into martini glasses.

And that was Halloween!

Nelson and I were a bit bewildered at this sudden turn of events.

Read more...