Today I have a Guest Post from Aly from the blog Bug, Bird and Bee as part of the Christmas TRH Book Advent, which today we are on day 15.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Over the last couple of years we have built up quite a collection of Dr.Seuss books.We have a number of favourites, but I don’t think we could ever go through a Christmas without having to read How The Grinch Stole Christmas.Originally published in 1957 the sentiments of the book, the over commercialisation of Christmas still ring true today.The book is based around the Grinch who hates Christmas and plans to take it away from the Who’s.The Who’s live for Christmas, the presents, the trees, decorations and the food.So on Christmas Eve the Grinch hooks up his sleigh to his dog Max and off they go to stop Christmas from coming.The Grinch clears every house in Who-ville of every tree, decoration present and even their Christmas feast.One little Who, Cindy-Lou wakes to find the Grinch clearing out the fridge and asks what he’s doing. As he’s dressed as Saint Nick he manages to lie his way out what he was doing. Once back in his cave high above Who-ville the Grinch is pleased that he has put a stopped Christmas.
But the Who’s despite the disappearance of Christmas, come together and sing.My most favourite bit of the book is when the Grinch realises that Christmas wasn’t a something you can buy but something you feel. He then returns everything back to the Who’s.
In true Dr.Seuss style How The Grinch Stole Christmas uses key words, rhythm and rhyming words to help young children learn to read.It makes a great read for older children who are practising reading aloud and my kids enjoy getting the mouths around the unusual words.For me as a parent I love the sentiment of this book and the illustrations.
Aly is an amazing 39 year old single parent of 3 – Kip (11), Cat (8) and Mouse (5). They live in the South West and she s a Pagan, greenie, vegetarian and eco-warrior in training. She loves crafting, slow food, foraging, science fiction/fantasy and beards. She is a dab hand on social media and very good on giving advice on it too.
Today we thought we’d go with a penguin. Simply paint your toilet roll holder black, cut 2 white circles (we used crepe paper from packaging), some black arms, orange feet and beak, some google eyes, and washi tape to make a scarf (I used a glue stick to secure them in place). We added a snowflake sticker just to give him a bit more of a cold look.
Of course penguins aren’t just for Christmas and these could be made maybe in anticipation of a visit to the zoo perhaps.