Practicing Thanksgiving with Tomie dePaola

Today I practiced Thanksgiving (the table, not the food) in order to showcase a sweet book that helps children give thought to the important act of giving thanks. It's by Tomie dePaola.

I don't know about you, but when I'm planning a special event, I like to do a practice run of my table-scape. Especially for holiday celebrations.

This year I won't be hosting Thanksgiving (we will be visiting my daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons in New York!)  But the temperatures here in Southern California have finally started falling, so it actually feels like fall - prompting me to break out my new (old) brown ironstone transferware, and celebrate with this little photo shoot!

In the same way that we practice setting our table, we need to help our children practice being thankful!  That's where this joyous book by Tomie de Paola comes in...(want to mention that I got my dishes and this book on Ebay!)

Let he whole Earth Sing Praise (2011) is a sweet and simple book, with text inspired by Old Testament Scripture and artwork styled after designs and embroideries of the Otomi people from the mountain villages around San Pablito, in Puebla, Mexico.

Joy is to be found everywhere - in the sun and moon, stars and comets, mountains and rivers, plants and creatures...in everything, give thanks!

I'm thankful for all my readers, and am offering a Fall Giveaway for the first person to leave a comment here!  It's a stenciled burlap "Happy Thanksgiving" Banner...it comes in three pieces, but they can be strung together in one long banner, or however you'd like.

Here's a Thanksgiving giveaway for everyone -  this lovely quote from St. Basil the Great:

When you sit down to eat, pray. 

When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. 

If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. 

When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. 

When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. 

Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator. 

-St. Basil the Great

HOLY WEEK: THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST

[note: I'm saying good-by to the blogopshere for about a week. If you are a Catholic or Protestant Christian, I realize you'll be observing Good Friday tomorrow, but in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Holy Week is just ahead of us.  Our Easter - Pascha - is April 15th this year.]  

Holy Week is the perfect time to focus on the miracles of Christ. The last Saturday of Lent (just preceding Passion Week - or Holy Week) is focused on Jesus' miracle of the Raising of Lazarus.  Of course, Holy Week itself, our journey with Christ to Pascha, ends with the ultimate miracle of the Resurrection, as Jesus frees the dead from Hades.

In my home, I display an Easter Egg Tree every year.  I made my own last year with pussy willow branches stuck into florist foam, which I nestled down into a pretty tin. (In Europe, pussy willow branches are used in place of palm branches on Palm Sunday, since palms are not available in that region.) When our children were young, during Holy Week they looked forward to hanging beautifully decorated eggs on our Easter Egg Tree each day.  By Easter - Pascha - the tree would be full.

This year I thought I would do it a little bit differently, decorating the tree for Holy Week with icon cards of "The Miracles of Christ" hung from the branches, and eventually adding in my Easter Egg collection for Pascha.. 

Pack of 18 cards. I got them here.

To all my readers:  I'll be back after next week. Blessed Pascha (Happy Easter)!

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD: FRANCE

Greeting: Joyeux Noel ("Joyous Christmas!") Noel comes from the phrase "les bonnes nouvelles", translated "Good News", and refers to the Gospel.
St. Nicholas Tradition: Saint Nicolas on December 6, and gift-giver, Père Noël ("Father Christmas"), who comes at Christmas.
Highlighted Custom: La bûche de Noël (Yule log cake)

In eastern and northern France, the Christmas season begins on December 6, la fête de Saint Nicolas, (the Feast of St. Nicholas) is one the most important holidays of the Christmas season. Children are given gifts of this day, instead of on December 25.

source

Bakeries offer spiced gingerbread cookies and mannala, brioche shaped like the good saint.. In school, children learn St. Nicolas songs and poems.  They also draw and paint St. Nicolas pictures and crafts. Saint Nicolas visits nursery schools, giving children chocolates and sometimes even a little present.

Nearly every home in France displays a Navity creche (manger scene), which is filled with little clay figures called santons or "little saints." Living crèches in the form of plays and puppet shows based on the Nativity are commonly performed to teach the important ideas of Christianity and the Christmas celebration.

source

On Christmas Eve in southern France, children put their shoes in front of the fireplace (this is done on December 6 in the northern areas), in the hopes that Père Noël , "Father Christmas", will fill them with gifts.  In some regions there's also Père Fouettard, who gives out spankings to bad children (sort of the equivalent of Santa Claus giving coal to the naughty).

A couple of French-inspired picture books:

Babar and Father Christmas, by Jean de Brunhoff. King Babar's children in Celesteville hear of the wonderful Father Christmas who brings toys to all the children in Man Country on Christmas Eve. The children write a letter to Father Christmas in the hopes of inviting him to Celesteville but when their letter goes astray, King Babar goes into Man Country to search for him personally...

The Clown of God, by Tomie dePaola. Many, many years ago, in Sorrento there lived a boy named Giovanni who had no mother and no father. He dressed in rags and begged for his food and slept in doorways. But he was happy, and he could do something wonderful. He could juggle. This is how the French legend begins. Your heart will be warmed with the miracle at the end of the story as Giovanni does his last performance before a statue of Our Lady and the Christ Child. Author-illustrator Tomie dePaola has done an excellent job, retelling this old story as close to its original version as possible.

Although fewer and fewer French attend la Messe de Minuit (the Midnight Mass) on Christmas Eve, it is still an important part of Christmas for many families.The Mass is followed by a huge feast, called le Réveillon (from the verb réveiller, to "wake up" or to "revive"). Le Réveillon is a symbolic awakening to the meaning of Christ's birth and is the culinary high point of the season, which may be enjoyed at home or in a restaurant or café that is open all night. Each region in France has its own traditional Christmas menu, with dishes like goose, chicken, capon, turkey stuffed with chestnuts, oysters, and boudin blanc. 

A yule log-shaped cake called the buche de Nol, (Christmas Log) is served as dessert after le Reveillon. In Southern France, a real yule log is still burned in people's homes from Christmas Eve until New Years Day. A long time ago, part of the log was used to make the wedge for the plough as good luck for the coming harvest.

The Christmas season ends on Fête des Rois (Feast of the Magi), January 6.  Galette des Rois (or "Three Kings Cake") is a round cake which is cut into pieces and distributed by a child, known as le petit roi or l'enfant soleil, hiding under the table. Whoever finds la fève - the charm hidden inside - is King or Queen and can choose a partner. That child receives a couronne (crown). The other children say “Vive le roi (ou reine)!"

Source for St. Nicholas information: www.stnicholascenter.org

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD: MEXICO

Greeting: Feliz Navidad ("Happy Nativity")
Saint Nicholas Tradition: In Mexico, St. Nicholas is not the traditional bearer of gifts.  Instead the children believe el Nino Jesus, "the Infant Jesus", brings them gifts.
Highlighted Custom: Las posadas procession

Painting by Carmen Lomas Garza

Beginning of December 16, children take part in las posadas, a nightly occuring reenactment of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and the Inn.  Led by two children carrying small statues of Mary and Joseph, a procession of friends and neighbors goes from house to house seeking posada ("shelter").  At each house, the resident responds by refusing lodging, until the weary travelers reach the pre-designated site for the party, where Mary and Joseph are finally recognized and allowed to enter. Once the "innkeepers" let them in, the members of the procession come into the home and kneel around the nacimiento, "Nativity scene", where they place the figures of Mary and Joseph and pray.  Finally on Christmas Eve, the procession goes to the church, where the children place a figure of the infant Jesus into the manger.

The Night of Las Posadas, by Tomie dePaola. "Sister Angie has organized the celebration of Las Posadas for many years, in which the people of Santa Fe re-enact Mary and Joseph's search for shelter on the night Jesus was born. This year's performance promises to be very special. Sister Angie's niece Lupe and Lupe's husband, Roberto, are to play the parts of Mary and Joseph. But on the night of the celebration, a snowstorm hits and Lupe and Roberto's car breaks down on their way into town. And to make matters worse, Sister Angie is home sick with the flu. It seems that only a miracle will be able to save Las Posadas." 



The beautiful red of the flor de la noche bueana, "flower of the Nativity" (we call it a "poinsettia" plant here in the U.S., named for Joel Roert Poinsett, who served as the American ambassador to Mexico from 1825-29) adds to the colors of the festive celebrations in Mexico.

Flor de la noche buena, "flower of the Nativity"

The Legend of the Poinsettia, by Tomie dePaola. Distressed because she has no other gift to offer Baby Jesus, Lucida carries into the church an armful of weeds, each of which suddenly becomes "tipped with a flaming red star"-marking the miraculous blooming of the first poinsettias.  Based on a Mexican folktale.

Bunuelos

There's lots of cooking to be done for the Christmas celebration...bunuelos are thin round pastries covered with sugar and cinnamon.  Dinner may include ensalada de la noche buena, a fruit and vegetable mixture; roast turkey; tortillas; and hot chocolate with vanilla and cinnamon.  A special Christmas salad, ensalada novidena, includes fruit, beets, sugarcane, and nuts.  It is decorated with small colored candies.

On the eve of Epiphany, children place their shoes in a window.  The next morning they will find their shoes filled with gifts given by the Reyes Magos, or Magi, on their journey to Bethlehem.  Candlemas, or el Dia de la Candelaria, marks the end of the holidays on February 2.  The service celebrates Jesus' presentation in the temple to the elderly priest Simeon, who refers to the babe as, "a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."


Source for my Christmas Around the World posts:
Mary D. Lankford's Christmas Around the World

LOSING SOMEONE YOU LOVE

I lost a very dear elderly friend this week and am attending her funeral today. She was bed-ridden for years, and tenderly cared for by her husband.  I am reminded of a beautiful children's book by Tomie dePaola that was written in 1973 and has helped parents and children with this difficult subject of death ever since.  It recently came out in a redrawn edition.  Mr. dePaola says it's his personal favorite of any that he's written. In re-creating the art, Tomie said, "Creating this art was as emotional an experience for me now as it was then."  

NANA UPSTAIRS & NANA DOWNSTAIRS by Tomie dePaola, is based on the nostalgic memories of his own childhood in time spent with his two "Nanas".  Four-year-old Tommy loves his Sunday visits to his grandmother's and great-grandmother's house. His grandmother seems to constantly be downstairs, busy by the kitchen stove, while his great-grandmother is always to be found in bed upstairs (because she is 94 years old). One morning Tommy's mother tells him that Nana Upstairs died during the night. Tommy feels sorrowful and empty, but his mother comforts him by explaining, "she will come back in your memory whenever you think about her." A very graceful treatment of a difficult subject. Anyone who grew up with a precious grandparent in their life will adore this book. (for ages 4-8)

To read more about Tomie dePaola and his children's books, visit his website, www.tomie.com.

A KNOCK AT THE DOOR...WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

BABOUSHKA AND THE THREE KINGS (ages 4-8) by Ruth Robbins, illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov, is the story about an old woman who, on a cold winter's night, hears a knock on her door.  She lifts the latch and looks out, to see three strangers standing in her doorway.  She stares in wonder at "their elegant dress, their frosted beards, their kind eyes."  They tell her they have been following a bright star to where a Baby has been born, but have become lost. They invite her to come with them in order to try to find the Child and offer Him gifts. But Baboushka is cold and hasn't finished her day's work.  She asks them to stay the night so that she can go with them in the morning.  They tell her there is not time to linger and they continue their journey without her.  She finishes her work, sits down to her lonely supper and begins to feel "a sudden tenderness and joy for the new born Child".  She becomes determined to find this new Babe and offer Him her poor, but heartfelt gifts.  She leaves at dawn but never finds Him, as she wanders from village to village.  She renews her search year after year at the time of His birth, and the children of the villages find joy "in the poor but precious gifts she leaves behind her in the silent night."

A little trivia (or controversy, depending on how you look at it):
The inside title page of BABOUSHKA AND THE THREE KINGS says the story is "Adapted From A Russian Folk Tale"; and at the end of BABOUSHKA AND THE THREE KINGS is the text of a poem, "BABOUSHKA, A RUSSIAN LEGEND", written by an American, Edith M. Thomas, in 1907.  In reality there is no such tale from Russia!  But there is a legend very much like this from Italy - about Old Befana.  (author and illustrator Tomie dePaola has a wonderful version of this story).

OLD BEFANA retold by Tomie dePaola (ages 4-8)

Three Legends from Tomie dePaola

Tomie dePaola, born to Irish and Italian parents in 1934 in Meriden, Conneticut, arrived in this world near the end of the Great Depression and grew up during World War II, before television became a substitute for radio in American homes.  He recounts how his family appreciated books and creativity...

"Growing up before television," dePaola once commented, "I had what I can only consider the good fortune to be exposed to radio and I never missed that wonderful Saturday morning show, 'Let's Pretend'. I have always felt that that particular program, plus the fact that my mother was in love with books and spent many long hours reading aloud to my brother and me, were the prime factors that caused me to announce to my first grade teacher that when I grew up I was going to make books with pictures." 

I think the main reason Tomie dePaola's picture books are so popular is that his simple illustrations, with their bright colors and a folk art style, appeal to the child in all of us.   All for ages 4-8.

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. This vivid retelling of an old Texas legend reveals how the Indian paintbrush, the state flower of Wyoming, first bloomed, and how a young brave (Little Gopher) dreams of creating a painting that will capture the beauty of a sunset.



The Legend of the Poinsettia. Distressed because she has no other gift to offer Baby Jesus, Lucida carries into the church an armful of weeds, each of which suddenly becomes "tipped with a flaming red star"-marking the miraculous blooming of the first poinsettias.  Based on a Mexican folktale.

The Legend of Old Befana This is a delightful reading of a favorite Italian Christmas story about an eccentric old woman (like Russia's "Babushka") and her never-ending search for the Baby King.




TOMIE DEPAOLA BOOKS FROM MY  "Forty Books For Forty Days" LIST:
My First Christmas This cute board book for babies and toddlers shows the joys and traditions of Christmas.


The Friendly Beasts (an Old English Christmas carol) I remember fondly this familiar carol from my childhood.  And I'm sure more than one children's Nativity play has been based on it! You can click here to see Tomie's illustrations, accompanied by the carol that is performed by Tennessee Ernie Ford.