The Books
I talked to the the group about being happy and loving as shining from the inside. I compared that to being angry or sad and being dark. I gave examples of "dark me and light me".
They were amused.
I sang Raffi's book This Little Light of Mine and they joined in.
I read David Shannon's The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza ,
a somewhat dark and humorous tale of a dad who gets out of control decorating.
He ignores his family and angers his neighbors: and later, he sees the light and is redeemed.
The Star Tree by Gisela Colle is Christmas story about an old, lonely man living in a big city and remembering holidays of long ago. He cuts stars out of gold paper then takes them out to the countryside and hangs them on a tree where they could shine by the light of the moon. A huge wind comes through the city and tears down the power lines. In the dark, the city people see the the moon, the old man, and the paper stars glowing in light and join him. It really is sweet. The illustrations are primitive and have a very European feel.
The Crafts
The crafts were very simple. They put self-adhesive jewels on glass votive candle.(Note: There was a light (tee hee) waxy residue on the outside of the glass. In order for the jewels to stick, I cleaned them off with rubbing alcohol) They drew stars on the back of glitter paper and cut them out. Most of them were independent and I loved the different personalities the stars had.
During the craft and snack time I played
This little Light of Mine performed by different musicians.
The Snack
They freaked when I told them we were going to eat lit candles
but, they loved the pretzel sticks and light cheese spread!
