Christmas festivities at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum

by Sara The Cumberland Heritage Village Museum is located 10 minutes east of Orleans.  The museum consists of several acres of historical residential and agricultural buildings, including a blacksmith, school house, church, and community hall.  For train-lovers, the entrance to the museum is a Canadian National railway station and during summer months children (and adults) can go for a ride on a miniature steam train with the Ottawa Valley Live Steamers and Model Engineers.

Although the museum closes for the season on October 30th, it re-opens on December 5th, 12th, and 19th for a Cultural Christmas Event.  Between 10 am and 5 pm, the village is alive with holiday activities including choirs, horse-drawn wagon rides, and even Santa is in town.  Families can learn about how the Irish and Germans celebrated Christmas as well as traditional holiday foods.  Regular admission fees are charged for the activities (Adult: $7 / Student: $5 / Senior: $5 / Family: $18)

We visited the museum this week with the 2.5 year old monkey's preschool class.  The firefighter, who missed his field trip to the museum last year because he was sick, tagged along for a morning of fun.

There was a blanket of snow on the ground when we arrived and the boys were happy to roll around and make snow angels.  We started our morning decorating sugar cookies and then took them outside.  The boys were happy to sit around the fire drinking hot chocolate and eating their sprinkle-covered snacks.  The museum is a beautiful location year-round but it was especially nice taking photos of the buildings, surrounding by freshly fallen snow and decorated with wreaths.  We finished our morning out with a visit to Santa  Claus and a ride on a horse-drawn sleigh. 

Our visit to the museum was a great opportunity to participate in some holiday activities while also enjoying time outside together as we trekked from building to building.  I encourage everyone (adults included) to bundle up in snow pants and if you have small children, it might be helpful to bring a sled in case little legs get tired.   

Sara is a photographer and mom to a 4.5-year-old ” firefighter” and 2.5-year-old “monkey”.  You can also find her at her blog, My Points of View.

Holiday Traditions

by Sasha I felt pretty lucky as a kid.  The way I saw it, we got to celebrate Christmas (read: open presents) no less than four times.

St. Nicholas was known, among other things, for leaving gold in the shoes of young girls who could not afford dowries.  This odd little habit made him the model for the modern-day Santa Claus.  When we were kids, this meant that the Christmas season began on the night of December 5, when we would put out our shoes for St. Nicholas to fill with candies, trinkets, and gold-wrapped chocolate coins. Those coins were simply awful, I don’t know how anyone could justify calling them chocolate, but we cheerfully ate them anyways.

December 24 is the ‘big day’ in the German tradition, so after a candlelight Christmas service, it was off to Oma’s and Opa’s for knackwurst (yum!), boiled cabbage (umm, yeah, we’ll just skip that, shall we?), and Oh Joy! Presents!

December 25 was, of course, the day Santa worked his magic under the tree.  We weren’t allowed out of our bedrooms until some impossible hour (8am?). Rather than have to wait it out alone, my sisters and I started the tradition of camping out on the floor together in one bedroom.  As we got older (and lazier), this also meant that we could send our baby sister out at the appointed time to retrieve our stockings for us.  Then, after gift opening and a breakfast of peameal bacon and pancakes, it was off to Grandma's and Grandpa's for the traditional Christmas dinner. Oh, and more presents.

Epiphany, in the Christian calendar, is the day the 3 Magi arrived in Bethlehem to pay homage to the baby Jesus. In our house, it was the last day of the Christmas season, and the day the tree came down.  And somehow, there were always a few ‘missed’ presents hiding under the tree skirt, wrapped in distictive Magi paper.

Today, of course, presents aren't nearly as important to me - but traditions are. I have been thinking a lot about Christmas traditions and how to adapt those of our childhood for our new family. I would like to keep the ‘4 Christmases’ I remember, but I also want to make sure the season is not entirely about material things.  Some of the traditions we're planning on keeping (or starting) include:

Christmas starts on Dec 6. More or less. I don't want to get too fussed (or stressed) about dates.  But we'll let St. Nicholas herald the start of our (roughly) 25 days of Christmas, try to get a decoration or two up that day, and open the Christmas music floodgates. Boney M will definitely be making an appearance.

Live Tree. Real Candles. I love this tradition. There's nothing like the smell of a live tree, or the look of real candles. Tree lighting becomes a very special time: nothing else goes on while the tree is lit - partly for safety - so it becomes a quiet moment in the middle of the hustle and bustle.

Understanding holiday traditions. We're not a religious family.  But I think it's important that my kids understand where Christmas comes from, including both it's Christian and pagan roots (there's nothing Christian about a Christmas tree). I'd also like them to understand some of the practices of other religions and cultures.  And I dearly miss the candle-lit reading of the biblical Christmas story - the poetic King James version - that I can probably still recite even now. I'm still struggling with how I'm going to do this meaningfully and respectfully.  I expect there will be readings from several different texts.  And I'm definitely going to need to do some research.

Santa Sacks. For several years I've been making gift bags for as many gifts as possible, both to cut down on paper and because, once they start to come back, wrapping becomes a breeze. I recently wrote a letter to Santa asking him if he'd start doing this too. I still need to figure out how to get St. Nicholas and the Magi to go green.

Christmas ends on January 6.Many years ago, DH and I started exchanging our gifts on January 6.  This is all about destressing the holidays: we can do our shopping during our time off between Christmas and New Years, and then exchange them at our leisure after all the Christmas travelling is done.

What are some of your holiday traditions?

Sasha is mom to 2-year-old Miss Bea, and 4 month old Baby Em.  Her ramblings can also be found on her blog, The Rambling Stroller.

Orleans Santa's Parade of Lights

by Vicky

I grew up in Ottawa's east end, and now I'm raising my own family here. Every year, for as long as I can recall, there has been a Santa Claus Parade in Orleans. It's a yearly tradition for many families. Yet I'm a bit sad to say that I waited until last year to actually experience it for the first time! Even though the parade wasn't a part of my childhood, it will definitely become a tradition for my kids.

Santa's Parade of Lights takes place on Saturday November 28th at 6:00pm, along St. Joseph Blvd, from Youville Dr to Prestone Dr. There are lots of great places to stand and watch the parade. However, with small children who get impatient quickly (like mine,) I would recommend standing somewhere closer to Youville Drive (at the start of the parade). That way you'll get to see Santa fairly quickly and then can head off for hot chocolate or to put the kids to bed. We waited closer to Place D'Orleans, and missed Santa all together since Joel got tired of waiting and wanted to go home. I would recommend going early and getting a good spot along the route because it fills up fast! Especially with young children, it can get hard to see.

We also didn't think to bring a toy or a cash donation collected by the Firefighters along the parade route, but many families did.

Bundled up!

The boys sat on their dads' shoulders for a better view. We all loved seeing the floats decorated with lights, and ooh and aah'd as each one drove by.

Babywearing!

The symphony for kids

by Lynn I love the NAC. I've been to uncountable plays, concerts, and dance shows there. I still remember the first time I saw a symphony - we had to take a special out-of-town trip and it was a Very Big Deal - and it was wonderful and magical and so interesting. I think it's fantastic that we live in a town that is big enough to have its own symphony, and I want my kids to take full advantage of that.

The NAC is working hard to draw in the younger crowd by offering more than one child-friendly event. We're already subscribers to their Kinderconcertseries, which is aimed at children aged 3 to 8 years old. They're fairly laid-back events - everyone snuggles together on pillows on the floor. The great thing about the Kinderconcerts, though, is that they are so intimate - a small venue where the kids can really get up close and personal with the music.

Once your kids turn five, you can start thinking about their Family Adventures Series, which is a set of three concerts in the main hall featuring the full orchestra. I had a chance to check out the first in the series, Trick or Treat to a Wicked Beat, on Saturday, with my six-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son.

I was kind of worried, actually, that the kids would be bored. I find watching the orchestra to be fascinating, but you never know what's going to appeal to the six and seven year old brain. Would they like the classical music? Would they enjoy watching the instruments and the conductor?

I'm very happy to report that the NAC did a fantastic job of making the show kid-friendly. First of all, there are crafts and activities to do in the lobby areas - our concert featured pumpkin carving, ghost necklace making, and a display showing how various spooky special effects sounds are made. Be sure to leave lots of time to explore all three levels of the theatre to try everything. The craft stations open 45 minutes before the show, but they do get very busy so earlier is definitely better.

During the actual show, there's plenty to entertain the kids. I loved the big screen above the orchestra - it focused in on the soloists, just like at a rock concert, and I could quietly identify the instruments to my kids. I also really appreciated the awesome costumes the orchestra members were wearing - check out this photo and see if you can spot Supergirl, some really great witches, a bumble bee, a clown, a construction worker, a convict, a monk, and the classic dude-dressed-as-a-lady.

There were also dancers to interpret some of the numbers, which my kids ADORED, and there was a fun witch, Samara, who exchanged cute banter with the conductor and kept the kids interested and engaged between numbers. There was even an audience participation component - everyone took part in making musical sounds to create a "spell" for Samara, and a few lucky kids were pulled up onstage to help interpret The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

As for the music...it was amazing. A great collection of classics that I was happy to introduce to my little ones, and a Harry Potter song to close out the concert that my kids actually recognized. At exactly an hour long, it is the ideal length - enough for everyone to enjoy without getting fidgety or needing a bathroom break.

I had a great time, the kids had a great time, and most of all, I was glowing at the idea of introducing the kids to a whole new world of the arts. These concerts are such a good way to introduce your kids to the arts and the orchestra and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series. Still to come are Rhythm & Shoes, A Musical Zoo! and Platypus Theatre's Charlotte and the Music-maker. 

In other news, The Nutcracker is coming back to the NAC this December. I took my two kids last year - when they were a year younger - and it was a hit. It's much longer than the Family Adventures concerts - with the intermission, it was over two hours. My two did get tired partway through, but on the other hand, they still talk about it all the time and have already asked to go again this year. We sat in the very last row of the upper balcony last year, and not only could we easily see and hear everything, it turned out to be ideal seating for kids who needed to stand up and have a stretch on occasion, and who wanted to ask LOTS of questions.

So if you see a few squirmy kids in the very back row this year - come over and say hi!

(Thanks to the NAC for providing Lynn with complimentary tickets for Trick or Treat to a Wicked Beat. And thanks to Lynn for sharing her experience with us!)

Lynn is mom to 7-year-old Captain Jelly Belly, 5.5-year-old Gal Smiley, and 2.5-year-old Little Miss Sunshine. She blogs over at Turtlehead.

The good ol' hockey game

by Amy Joe and I are hockey fans. Before the baby was born she owned three jerseys - An infant sized Senators jersey, a slightly bigger Team Canada jersey and a toddler sized Winnipeg Jets jersey. Yes, the Jets. My sister is determined that the baby's first real word be 'Alfie.'

Joe will tell you with pride that the day the baby was born is the day the Senators started an 11-game winning streak. The tiny baseball cap she owns, the one that says 'Born to be a Senators fan' is not a lie. She was only a few weeks old when we threw a Canada shirt on top of her sleeper and kept her awake for the Olympic gold medal games. It was never a question that she would be attending a few live hockey games, it was just a matter of getting tickets to her first one.

One day we were having a hard day at home and I needed something good to focus on and the Sens were playing the Carolina Hurricanes and I bought us tickets. Because Maggie is still little I didn't have to buy her a seat, but the game we were going to was one of the Metro Family games. The Metro Family 4-pack gets you four tickets, four hot dogs and four drinks for $99. Every game you can get seats for $15 in the Coca-Cola zone, or $40 in the Coca-Cola Zero zone, where no alcohol is allowed.

When the game was about to start and the teams came out on the ice, I could see Maggie's eyes grow wider. She was thrilled that the men she had watched on TV with her Daddy we down there, skating around.  Maggie has always loved being around people and she has fun where there are a lot of things to watch. She watched the hockey, she made friends in the row behind us, she danced to the music.

We took along some big earphones to protect her from the loud music, though we found that she took them off every time we put them on, but she also didn't seem bothered by the noise. I loved watching her take everything in and it's an experience we will definitely be repeating in the future.

Amy is mom to 8-month-old Maggie and a 4 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind.