One of our Significant Six statements in our curriculum is “To treasure and celebrate family life in all its diversity.” So this year in preschool, we asked parents to come in and talk about how their family celebrate at Christmas. This has been a wonderful and valuable learning opportunity for the children and adults and we want to thank all of the parents who came to talk to us about the festivities. It was so interesting to see how some traditions are similar and some are different. For example, in some European countries it seems that we like to hide things in food – a sixpence in Christmas pudding in England, a coin in Italy and on Christmas morning, Finnish families will eat a bowl of porridge for breakfast. One bowl will have an almond placed inside it, making the family member who finds the almond the ‘winner’. Lights, candles and fireworks play a big part in all our celebrations too. The children have made a book with photos, emails and song lyrics that parents shared with us. This will be used as a discussion tool to support language and social development.
One of our mums came in to talk about how they celebrate Christmas in Lithuania. She spoke about how they have 12 dishes of vegetables and fish on Christmas Eve and spend time with all the family talking and reflecting on the year they have had.
Another mum told us about Christmas traditions in Gran Canaria and the importance of Epiphany, which is when the Three Kings visited Jesus. We learned about the food they eat and we sang Feliz Navidad, a Spanish Christmas song we have been learning for the past few weeks.
One of our mums came to talk to us about Christmas in Finland, which is where she is from. She brought in ginger biscuits which her little boy and her had made together at home. They were yummy! She told us about St Lucia, who parades through the town wearing a wreath of candles on her head. We watched a video, where she sang a song in Swedish. We sang the song ‘Tre Gubbar’, a song we have been learning in Swedish.
Another Mum is from Switzerland and she read us two French stories, which the children really engaged with. Her daughter brought in a toy mole which was in one of the stories. It was a good opportunity for us to remember and practise our French counting. She told us about Christmas in Switzerland, where it is currently snowing. It sounds magical!
We learned about a Christmas in the UK from another mum who showed us some lovely photos of their tree, hanging up a stocking by the fireplace and making gingerbread biscuits. We were so glad that she brought some biscuits in for us to share – they were very yummy! To finish she read the story of the gingerbread man.
Another parent came and read some lovely Christmas poems to us. Her mum had read them to her when she was little and she is now continuing this tradition with her little boy.
We learned about Christmas in Italy and that they have panettone, which is a fruity cake and pandoro cake which is very sweet. As in Finland, St Lucia is part of the celebrations.
St Lucia is also part of Belgium’s celebrations, as one of our mums shared with us. The month before Christmas, there are lots of Christmas markets in Belgium. It is an opportunity for the kids to practise outdoor ice skating and drink hot chocolate under a patio heater. The grown ups can also enjoy hot wine, oysters, Foie gras and Tartiflette. On Christmas Eve, all members of the family gather around a 5 course meal. Traditional meal consists of lobster bisque soup, Foie gras on toast, Turkey with chestnut gravy, log cake and finally cheese plate. In between meals, families play board games, sing Christmas songs and have fireworks outside. Santa brings presents on Christmas Day but Pere Noel brings presents earlier in the month.
Of course, some of our families don’t celebrate Christmas and one of them has gone on a 3 week holiday to somewhere sunny and hot – which sounds wonderful!
Christmas carols in the garden