Noise and Christmas Music

      

We went for a walk to find "heaven and nature singing". It wasn't hard. It was underneath our bare toes on the gravel roads. We collected leaves, flowers, berries, stems, pine cones and more. We came back home and talked about how they are life and light right here with us "nature singing". We glued the treasures on paper and mailed them to friends and family that the children wanted to share their work with.

It doesn't feel very Christmasy here as we haven't put up a tree. We are waiting until we get to Georgia next week. We pulled out the beautiful olive wood manger scene and put all of the pieces in place. We hung some pine cones by golden ribbon and cut out some snow flakes. The air is warm and balmy. We've had a little rain and a lot of being sick.

More than anything, we've had music. We listen to carols. The children dance to "Angels We Have Heard On High" over and over again. Amelia is a painter and a fiddler, not a dancer. I just throw back my head and laugh while she dances. She usually ends up in a pile on the floor for a not so graceful move or from her own belly laughs.

George faithfully teaches George Wilder and Amelia how to play the violin. They call it the fiddle and I think it will always be a fiddle here. They wiggle and whine through lessons and then beam with pride when they finally put together all the pieces and make those fiddles play!

Fiddles are not quiet, but I love love to hear them sing. Well, maybe not the 100th time in a row line practice, but I do love it. William loves the music. He is in the middle of them always playing, dancing, singing, yelling along.