My favorite time of the year is approaching and what better way to celebrate the Christmas season but with books! I have a lot of traditions to celebrate during Chistmas and I will be sure to share with you along the way.
May I suggest a family read aloud for the Christmas season? Every year my daughters and I do a Christmas Around the World unit study. We pick 3 countries and find fun facts and delicious food and activities that pertain to that country. This year we spent some time learning about the Vikings, so we decided to focus some of our Christmas on Scandinavia.
Winter Frost is a book set on an island in Denmark called Lolland. It is Christmas and Bettina’s parents must leave for the week, one to visit grandmother in the hospital and the other to visit their lonely Uncle. Bettina who is only twelve, is now in charge of the farm, and her baby sister Pia who is nearly one years old. If it seems like a huge job for a twelve year old, I would agree. To make matters more tricky for Bettina, her parents forgot to put the porridge out for the nisse Christmas eve. If you are wondering what a nisse is, then think of a gnome, they are pretty much the same thing.
You may not know this but nisse are tricksters so when the family’s nisse did not get his porridge on Christmas eve, he decided to get even by stealing baby Pia, thus begins the journey into the world of nisse for Bettina. She must get her sister back and she must do it before her parents come back.
Sometimes we do crafts with books and so we did with Winterfrost. We made little nisse with air dry clay. With a little water and our hands we could easily mold our clay into nisse like objects. We waited a day for them to dry and then painted faces, hats and clothes on them. I love an easy craft.
What is book club without a tea time and what is a tea time without some treats! In honor of the nisse I decided to make some porridge. I got the recipe from a friend and oh how I love it! Below is a condensed version but if you want the whole recipe check out https://food52.com/recipes/8120-swedish-christmas-porridge
Tea Time Book Club 