Christmas at La Maison de L’Enfant is a very special event. Not just the day of the Christmas show, but the build up, too! The children partake in a mountain of activities every day in the run up to Christmas and there isn’t a day that passes without a new adventure, game or discovery!

At the arrival of the month of December, the Spirit of Christmas starts work on our advent calendar…Needless to say, this isn’t any ordinary advent calendar!  The Spirit of Christmas leaves us messages every day with riddles, challenges, interesting facts and Christmas themed games to play!

Every year the Middle and Big sections enjoy playing ‘Secret Santa’, whereby each child pulls a name from a hat and then makes a present for that child. Its tricky for the children to keep their name a secret, but this year they managed it really well! They made fridge magnets from jar lids, precious ‘gems’ and modeling clay and every one was made with love and the receiver in mind. When they had finished, they then posted their presents in the special Christmas British Postbox under the Christmas tree!

The afternoon before the Christmas show, it was time to present distribution, and a designated postman emptied the postbox and gave out the precious presents. It’s always such a delight to see the joy in their eyes as they give and receive presents they have made for each other! Its usually adults who give them presents but this time its them, the children who discover the joy of giving.

And of course, that’s far from where their creativity ends! The children made special Christmas biscuits and mini sculptures out of marzipan as they often do at Christmas and some beautiful artworks for their parents!

The little sections really spoilt their parents this year! They made delicious apple, cinnamon and vanilla jam, presented in special little glass jars that they decorated! They gave sparkly Christmas tree paintings and, the ‘pièce de résistance’: a beautiful sculpted pot with lid containing a lucky charm , all made by the children.

The middle and big sections certainly didn’t disappoint either! They made the most remarkable ‘dancer’ sculptures from pods found in nature that twisted and turned like the arms and legs of a dancer. They painted and decorated them and added a head they sculpted from clay. A very original gift that would take pride of place in their homes! They also wrote a special message to their parents on parchment paper, delivered in a meticulously decorated envelope.

Let’s not forget the decorations! The arrival of the Christmas tree was hotly anticipated, and the children were eager to decorate it! They took their time selecting the decorations they want to hang and carefully transformed the Christmas tree in to a work of art in itself! When it was done, they admired their work and spent time gazing at their Christmas village too!

Artistic activities aside, there was also the task of preparing the Christmas show! Every day the children rehearsed their Christmas songs in anticipation of the ‘big day’ when they would sing as a choir for their parents(and also for themselves, of course!). Singing in front of an audience of people twice your size can be daunting(understandably!) but they children sang well and their renditions were heartwarming.

After the show, a special visitor was waiting in the wings! Who could it be? Why, it was none other than Santa Claus! He had taken the time to visit us at La Maison de L’Enfant, despite his busy schedule and the children were in awe! Unfortunately, poor Lili missed seeing him again this year as she had left the school to run errands. Poor Lili! Such bad timing!