Christmas Around the World

Jacob had a project due today. Each child had to pick a country, and tell how that country celebrated Christmas. There was a form to fill out using complete sentences (hard for a 1st grader) and they had to bring along something to demonstrate this country's tradition....a poster board, craft, food etc. We chose to do Holland. People in Holland leave out their "clogs" and fill it with carrots and hay and hope to get sweets. Jacob and I took one of my clog shoes and filled it up with candy canes. They also have many other traditions such as their "santa clause" comes on a boat and all the church bells start ringing. Another thing they do is make a "letter cake" of the family's last name and they eat that as part of their dinner. One of the reasons we chose Holland is that I did not want another poster board, and I thought we could make our own letter cake. To save me time and MUCH FRUSTRATION I cheated and bought weigh watchers cakes and made them into our "M". I thought it turned out pretty good. I really liked this project and wish the parents were invited so I could have heard about other countries. I know there was one on Mexico, Germany and Italy.