12 Days of Christmas Garland

12 Days of Christmas Garland

Many years ago, though I remember it like it was yesterday, I was teaching an English class for middle school students in France. Around Christmas time, I thought it might be nice to teach the song, “The 12 Days of Christmas.” The students really enjoyed learning the song, though I think they wondered about the very unique gifts in the song (I don’t think we talked much about the rich symbolism in the song).
Inspired by this memory, I decided to create two different 12 Days of Christmas garlands this year. One has “The 12 Days of Christmas” translated into French. The other lists the symbolism of each of the 12 gifts. The printable garlands are available in our Etsy shop.
“The 12 Days of Christmas” is, of course, a very English song (however, it may actually have French origins). But why learn the words to an English song in French? Studies show that knowledge of vocabulary in learning a second language is very beneficial for enhancing comprehension, fluency, and confidence. Plus, having knowledge of new words in a second language is fun. We hope learning vocabulary in French for words we are so familiar with in English will add a little extra joy in this joyful season! (You can learn the pronunciation of the French words with our short YouTube video. Please note that the translation is for the sake of learning vocabulary in French, but the translation does not fit into the melody of the song.)
The garland with the symbolism of the gifts is in English. I often forget the meaning of the symbolism of the gifts, and if you are like me, you might enjoy this festive little reminder too. While celebrating the 12 days, starting on December 25th, you might also enjoy the ideas suggested in this article about the “12 Days of Christmas” song from dynamiccatholic.com.  
The printable garlands are available in our Etsy shop. Simply print and cut out the cards, then hang them, using mini clothespins. If you like, you can face them all forward right away, or you can turn them over one-by-one on each of the 12 days of Christmas

Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Carol – printable quotes to grace your home throughout the Christmas season

A Christmas Carol – printable quotes to grace your home throughout the Christmas season

We love printable garlands, and we’ve been meaning to make one for the Christmas season. Today we are sharing with you some printable wall art and garlands with quotes from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

 

What inspired us to create these printables? Reading A Christmas Carol as a family this Advent season and spending the first 3 weeks in December doing the Read Aloud Revival Christmas School. Though we had heard of it before, we never took the leap of faith to switch gears from our regular curriculum and do Christmas School (which really takes place during Advent, to prepare for Christmas). We are so glad we did this year!

We so much enjoyed doing the Read Aloud Revival Christmas School that we were actually sad when it ended, even though Christmas vacation was about to begin. We hope hanging up these quotes in our home will help us to remember the joy of Christmas School… and if you did Christmas School, or you are just a fan of Dickens, perhaps you’ll love them too. You can find the printable quotes to frame and the garland in our Etsy shop

 

Thanks to Christmas School, as we headed into Christmas vacation this year, our hearts and our home felt so much more ready for Christmas than they normally do when Christmas vacation begins.

I felt inspired to spread the word about Christmas School because it was such a blessing for our family, and we imagine some of our readers might like to learn more about it. Christmas School is designed for homeschoolers, but it could be used (at least partially) by all families (perhaps on the weekends or evenings during Advent).

Christmas School is different every year, but this year Christmas School was based around Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Christmas School provided us with a complete curriculum (except for math) for 3 weeks in December, including writing, grammar, art, music, science, and history. I’m not usually one to completely follow a curriculum (because I like to go along with my own inspiration), but I was so happy to follow the Christmas School curriculum… truly a feast of beautiful learning!

We found ourselves looking forward to getting up every morning and reading from Little Christmas Carol (lightly edited and sweetly illustrated for children by Joe Sutphin), and then filling the day with things like learning about the history of nativity scenes, and then putting up our own… learning about conifers and evergreens, and going on a nature walk to find some in our neighborhood, and then heading out to pick out a Christmas tree… making punch to celebrate Dickens-style… learning about Christmas songs… reading and writing poetry… baking… doing art projects… and so much more!

 

Our 5 year-old says, “Christmas school is the funnest!” And though we might say it differently, we all feel the same! Christmas school allowed us to learn and grow in the typical school subjects, while also preparing our hearts and our home for Christmas. 

Because our hearts are so full of sweet memories of Christmas School this year, we decided to create printable wall art and a printable garland with some of the most beautiful quotes from A Christmas Carol.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”

Whether you did Christmas School this year too, or you just love Charles Dickens, you might like to print these printables as a reminder to keep celebrating throughout the Christmas season. You can find them on Etsy. (Your purchase from our little Etsy shop helps us to cover blogging expenses. Thank you so much for your support!)

Once the printables are downloaded, you can re-print them whenever you like, year after year. You’ll want to print them on cardstock or printer-friendly watercolor paper. For the garland it is helpful to have a 1/8″ hole punch, a 2.25″ circle punch (or scissors), and narrow ribbon or twine. Complete instructions are included in the download.

After the stockings come down on Christmas morning, the garland could perhaps take their place along the mantel… as a reminder to always keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts. Little framed prints can be placed around the house as a happy reminder that Christmas continues as well.

To find out more about Christmas School, you can visit Sarah Mackenzie’s Read Aloud Revival. Read Aloud Revival is our go-to place to find peace and reassurance in our homeschool all throughout the year too.

Wishing you a joyous Christmas season!

You might also like…

Gluten-free cut-out cookies

Does Santa need some gluten-free cookies at your house? These are also low-carb, making them a bit heathier than your typical cookie (but still yummy!).

diy santons de provence

Make your own nativity

Learn about Santons de Provence (French nativities), and the many figures that surround the nativity. Then have fun making your own!

french valentine garland

Valentine Scripture Garland (in French or English)

Print and decorate this sweet garland for Valentine’s Day.

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