Merry Christmas

“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat…” -from the old nursery rhyme and carol: Christmas is Coming

With the Big Day only a week away, I thought it would be nice to share some Christmas thoughts. Of course, I realize that my very diverse readership includes many who either don’t celebrate Christmas, or who celebrate one of the variations on the holiday, but at the risk of being socio-politically incorrect, I’m going to stick with good ol’ Christmas here and hope it isn’t perceived as being insensitive to the preferences of many homeschoolers. It’s just how I view the holiday, my perception, my perspective.

A friend and I were discussing Christmas the other day and she asked where the Xmas variation came from, and neither of us knew, but later I looked it up and found this interesting bit of information at Wikipedia:

The word “Christmas” originated as a contraction of “Christ’s mass.” It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.[1] In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter É¥ (chi), is the first letter of Christ. Since the mid-sixteenth century É¥, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ.[2] Hence, “Xmas” is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.

There are many such opportunities for learning related to Christmas. The other evening my Dad and I watched an engrossing program titled The Real Story of Christmas on the History Channel. As their website explains:

Christmas has had a long and varied history. It has been celebrated for centuries by different people, at different times, in different places, and in many different ways. Here you will find links to information about the different ways that the holiday we know as Christmas has been celebrated, or not celebrated, over the years.

The History Channel site offers synopses of the program with fascinating tidbits of information, like this one, under ‘Outlaw Christmas’:

From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings.

Delightful video clips of the holiday program are available to watch free. The entire History Channel website is an impressive resource for anyone teaching or studying history, of course, but these kinds of programs point out how it can be applied to many other subjects, such as Social Studies – or, of course, just enjoyed for the pure fun of learning!

The fun of learning in the Christmas spirit also shines through in two great websites, the appropriately named Xmas Fun and the thoroughly delightful Merry-Christmas.com, both featuring games, puzzles, songs, crafts, stories, jokes, coloring pages, riddles, trivia, recipes and more! These are wonderful site to explore with kids, just be prepared to spend some time – and to hear pleas for return trips to these sites!

For a truly educational experience you can also visit the Wikipedia page Christmas Worldwide, which links to information about Christmas customs in over 40 countries around the globe. How Christmas Works is a fun and informative visit, and for the artistically inclined there are the marvelous snowflake design sites like Make-A-Flake and Snowflake Builder.

So my point is simply this: So many wonderful resources support this special time of year, and learning becomes so much fun and so easy to enjoy, that one wonders why the public education system considers this a sort of unofficial “time off from learning.” Now I doubt there actually is such a thing as a moratorium on learning, since even “not learning” is educational in its own way, but I trust you know what I mean, dear reader.

When I was little, Christmas always brought the most interesting kinds of learning as my parents wrapped up telescopes, books, microscopes, globes, chemistry sets, musical instruments, games, construction kits, aquariums, and once even the Encyclopedia Brittanica! There were plenty of Barbie dolls and train sets, of course, but they just brought different types of lessons. A child who’s engaged and interested in life will find learning almost everywhere. It’s only when children become disengaged and disinterested that learning becomes strained and difficult.

When I was small and walked to school I remember looking forward to being away from the school and the “teacher’s dirty looks” almost as much as I looked forward to Christmas itself. Two whole weeks without the burdens of school! The excitement of ringing in the New Year was tempered by the knowledge that soon afterwards it would be back to the classroom for me, and learning would be transformed somehow from simply a common everyday occurrence to something almost grim and unsavory, even though I was a better-than-average student. I was lucky; my parents seemed to have an innate understanding that school was not a good place for kids, and they didn’t object too strenuously when I unceremoniously dropped out. And then Mom found John Holt long before I did, and my two youngest siblings never went to school at all until my sister decided to give college a try (and made the Dean’s list). But I digress…

Christmas is filled with the very best kinds of learning: Caring, giving, sharing, togetherness, love… And the learning isn’t just limited to the youngsters; if we keep our hearts open this season we’ll learn new ways of celebrating, if we pay attention to those around us – really pay attention – we’ll gain new insights and understandings.

I hope your family’s Christmas is merry and bright, filled with small kindnesses and simple joys. I hope you have gingerbread cookies, sleigh bells, pine-scented candles and at least one concert of Christmas carols. I hope that small thing you’re secretly wishing for is under the tree, with a lovely ribbon. And as always at this time of year, I give a prayer for peace on Earth and good will towards men.