We channeled our creativity this week with a number of colorful projects. The inner "Arc-tist" in all of us shined through as we found inspiration from some of our favorite museums: Mariners' Museum, Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, and Watermen's Museum. The Arc of Greater Williamsburg also participated in the Williamsburg Christmas Parade on Sunday evening, and nailed the decorating of the van! Check out our festive AND creative week!
Sunday
With the Williamsburg Christmas Parade being held at night for the first time, it was going to be a challenge to be "seen," but we did it. Arc board president (and Drew's dad), Andy, had a vision for decorating one of our vans, and look at this end result! It was miles of lights...or maybe it was just 600 feet of them, but what's the difference?! It's stunning!!
Andy couldn't talk our Executive Director, Pam, into riding on the back and waving to the crowd, so he snagged Frosty instead! 😜 Great job on the decorations for the van, Andy!! You truly outdid yourself!
Riding along inside the van were these two AoA friends of ours, Liz and Drew! We are proud to have them represent The Arc anytime!
Here's a video snippet of our beautiful parade entry as it cruised down Richmond Rd. Thanks for sharing, Donna D.! We're already looking forward to next year's parade, and wondering what else we can add to our already stellar "float!"
Tuesday
Today we traveled to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News to preview a program called "Three Kings, Three Gifts, and a Journey." Our friends Erika and Wisteria are planning to present it to the public this weekend, and they gave us a sneak peek! It unravels some of the origins of the three wise men whose story is told in the seasonal song, "We Three Kings of Orient Are."
We learned fun things like the wise men may have dressed like this in what looks like yoga pants or tights! They also came from 3 different parts of the "Orient" and met up in Jerusalem before traveling on to Bethlehem. They didn't make the journey all the way to Bethlehem together. However, they departed together and ended up in what is now known as India!
The gifts the wise men presented to the baby Jesus were gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Frankincense and myrrh are both resins extracted from the bark of trees. The oil from frankincense was used as a perfume and the oil from myrrh was used to help mask the odor of a decaying body after death. In the time of the wise men, frankincense and myrrh were each as valuable as the gold!
Erika and Wisteria had samples of frankincense and myrrh for us to see and smell. They each looked like small pebbles, and most of our guys said they smelled like spices.
Abraham told Wisteria that the myrrh smelled better than the frankincense.
We also learned what each gift symbolized during that time. Thinking about the Christian story of Jesus, we learned that gold symbolized him being a king, frankincense symbolized him being a divine being, and myrrh may have foreshadowed his death. A bit deep for our guys, but fascinating as well!
At the end of the presentation, Erika told us that after visiting the baby Jesus, the three wise men went to what is now known as India. They lived out their lives and many years after they died (within 24 hours of each other?!), their remains began being moved by different rulers. At one point their remains were in Constantinople, and then in Milan, Italy. But they eventually ended up in a shrine in Cologne, Germany, where they still are today! (FYI: For any readers who are wondering, this information about the wise men is not mentioned in the Bible. Erika told us that Latin writings were found that documented this account.)
We followed up our educational content with an ornament painting activity! Wisteria made the ornaments out of air-dry clay and cut each one with a cookie cutter. Laura painted an anchor and Annmarie chose a star.
Patrick also painted a star and Sam worked on a dolphin. Carol painted a sailboat. Painting was relaxing and fun!
While our ornaments dried, Erika and Wisteria showed us a new exhibit called "Karavakia," which celebrates a Greek tradition of festively decorating small boats during the Christmas season. It goes back to the ancient Greeks' seafaring days, when men would be gone for long periods of time and when they returned home around Christmas, they found the women and children had decorated small boats to welcome them back. Thank you, Erika and Wisteria, for today's interesting, fun, and creative lesson! We love learning new "stuff" AND hanging out with you!
Our pleasant visit to the Mariners' Museum ended with lunch in the cafe. The guys who work there were so helpful and efficient, and got all of our orders correct. We really enjoyed eating out, chatting with each other, and people watching others that came by for lunch. It was too breezy and chilly to walk on the trail, so we headed back to the center where we worked on a special birthday card for Christina, who's coming tomorrow, followed by Choice Time.
Wednesday
Christina from the Art Museums of CW came today with a project that we were very excited about: painting Christmas trees on canvas! When she heard we always make something for our guys to give their families this time of year, she offered to do this project with us, and it was amazing! Here, she showed us samples of the paintings she had already created. We got excited to think that we could do it, too!
We were very proud of how our friends paid attention, focused on the step-by-step directions, and put forth their best efforts in their work.
For each step in the process, Christina modeled for us what to do. First, we had to paint the background. She taught us to blend the main color (pink, blue, or yellow) with white so it would "pop, and have depth." She explained that using the white could take one color, like dark green, and turn it into several shades of that color, which would make our pictures more beautiful. It was fun to see our guys experiment with blending the white into the other colors.
We used broad brushes and strokes to cover the backgrounds of our large canvases. This part took the longest, but we took our time and enjoyed the process!
Next, we added a trunk. Again, we blended two colors - brown and white - and the trunks looked realistic.
Using various shades of green that we blended, we painted tree branches next. Christina said to "make swooshes, and let your brush do the work!"
The last step was to put a few colorful ornaments on the branches. Christina taught us to paint white balls on first, and after they dried a bit, to go over the white with other colors.
The colors we added "popped" against the white, and all of a sudden our trees were really coming to life!
By now, we had been working for a little over two hours. But we were still just as focused as when we started. Here, Xavier is using a cotton-tipped swab to apply color over the white. We're so proud of our Arc-tists!
Even though these are being given as "surprise" gifts to our families, we're going to show them all off here!
In the future, when we take "memory lane" walks to check out blog posts from the past, we'll love seeing this one!
What special masterpieces these are. Christina really worked some magic with us today!
We worked up quite an appetite by the time lunch was ready...AND we were celebrating Christina's birthday, too! It's next week on the 16th, but we had her covered today. We had breakfast for lunch, with hashbrown and sausage casseroles, fresh fruit, and juice. 😋
We finished it off with homemade birthday muffins! Isn't it great how a few sprinkles can totally transform a simple muffin? They were so festive!
Christina, we thank you for your friendship, support of The Arc of GW, and love! We have had an amazing 5 years with you and the Art Museums of CW, and look forward to many more!
Happy Birthday, Christina!!
Thursday
Gosh, we were so busy today! In the morning, Nan worked with Kate, Michelle, and Devin to prepare our holiday card mailing. We didn't send one last year, but usually the AoA sends greetings to our families and friends this time of year. Everyone was here on Tuesday and we got a great group picture at the Mariners' Museum, so be on the lookout!
We had plenty of Eaton work to do, too. James made a big delivery yesterday. Xavier, Patrick, and Drew worked on sorting two big boxes of parts. There were 3 different pieces to sort so they had to be on their toes!
Kevin, Abraham, and Sam had a huge box of parts that needed to be snapped apart. They were a little bit noisy!
Abraham is who you want on your team...he will dive into the box to get to the parts on the bottom!
Alexis and Liz settled in to put gaskets on the parts that were sorted. Liz also got holiday tunes going on Spotify for us! 🎜🎝🎄🎅
Annmarie and Laura didn't have an Eaton job today, but they were thrilled to color ornaments we printed on cardstock. After we got them all cut out, we made a decorative garland to put over the whiteboard!
Pretty, isn't it?!
We stayed inside on this chilly day and got our workout with a "Would You Rather..." video. These friends were practicing balance near the end of the video.
After lunch and Choice Time, we listened to a couple of chapters in our book, Squirm, since we're trying to finish it before Winter Break. After that, we had the lesson on Pearl Harbor that we didn't get to yesterday. It's been 80 years since that "day that will live in infamy." At the end of the day, we did a simple craft to make Santas for decorating the windows. Patrick had just glued fluffy Poly-fil stuffing material down for Santa's beard.
We cut the Santas out and put them in the windows...so Santa can keep his eye on us for the next week or so! 🎅 👀
Friday
Our very creative week wrapped up today when we began our project to transform oyster shells into Santa ornaments. We got the oyster shells from Mike at the Watermen's Museum when we visited in October. Each of us got to pick one from the bed around the museum building, where they are used to help with erosion. The first step in making the ornament was to paint the inside of the shell white, as Sam, Alexis, and Drew were doing here.
Step two was to paint Santa's red hat. Laura was happy to be making the ornament for her family! The next step involves painting on a face, and Lisa, Carol, and Nan will do that part for most of us on Tuesday. Then, everyone will add a fluffy pompom on the top of Santa's hat to finish the job! Check back next week for pics of the finished ornaments! 🎅
We introduced a new holiday activity today: Sock Exchange Game! Everyone brought a pair of holiday socks. One of the socks was filled with candies and small "trinket gifts," and the other sock was used to tie it closed. We played a game that involved listening to a story about Santa losing his magical toy sack. He couldn't remember where he "left" it, but he needed it to help him get the "right" toys to each child. Every time we heard the words "left" or "right," we had to pass the sock to the person beside us in that direction. As shown here on Kate's and Kevin's legs, we taped "left" and "right" arrows to help us as we played the game. (Thanks again, Kate, for suggesting the Sock Exchange!)
Midway through the story, we were kind of figuring out the idea of how to pass the socks, so we paused to take pictures. Up until now, it was a little confusing for some of us. We were patient and helped one another!
It was fun to feel the differences in each sock as we passed them around the circle. We didn't know what was in them, and the excitement was building for which sock each of us would end up with!
In the end, we figured everyone would have someone else's socks, but it turns out Abraham had his own pair. He didn't think to say anything (he was happy to have candy and prizes!), but his mom noticed when he got home and let us know. We will make a note to have a system for double checking if we play this game next Christmas. Thanks Mona', for letting us know about the snafu, for your understanding that we had a learning curve with this game, and for sending a sock filled with perfect items that anyone, but especially Abraham, would love!
The Sock Exchange Game was a highlight today, but so was the final game of the Fall Corn Hole Challenge, which we finally got around to playing this afternoon! We dropped off completed work at Eaton and then headed to New Quarter Park.
The girls' team was ahead in the Fall Challenge, 3 games to 2, and they wanted to win again, but so did the boys' team! Today's game was close right up to the very end, with lead changes after almost every turn! (Yes, our players are getting that good!) Look at Annmarie's excitement after she added a point for her team!
Mr. Cool, also known as Xavier, moseyed up for his turn and earned two points, putting the boys ahead for the moment!
Next thing we knew, Michelle had put the girls back in the lead!
On Devin's next turn, things got serious. He was determined to get points for his team, and he didn't disappoint! We have it on video, right here! 🠋 Now the girls had 20, boys, 19. It was the girls' turn, and 21 would win the game...
In the end, Alexis was up and she landed one bag on the board and sank the other one in the hole. The girls won, 23-19! In our excitement, we didn't get a picture, so we took a victory picture back at the center. The boys good-naturedly gave the girls' a big "ta-da" for winning the Fall Corn Hole Challenge. 👏👏 We're already looking forward to the Winter Challenge!
We had a few extra minutes before yoga, so we finally got around to seeing if using a larger container, more base (baking soda), and more acid (vinegar) would cause a balloon to inflate more than it did last week with the smaller amounts. We got another great chemical reaction and...here's what happened! Michelle missed last week's experiment, so we were glad she got to see this one!
Ahhh, yoga! Jaime had a new episode called "The Nutcracker" and we enjoyed stretching and relaxing with her. Here we are at the end of the practice, during what Jaime calls "Peace Out." We had the lights on because Lisa, Carol, and Nan were working on the faces for the oyster shell Santas, but as you can see, our guys were still able to completely relax! They earned a "Peace Out" after the busy, creative, and fun week we just completed!
We have one week to go before we will take a Winter Break. It's going to be busy, fun, and we hope, full of memories. Here are our plans for next week:
Tuesday: Our final week of 2021 is loaded with lots of holiday fun! We're going to kick it off today with a trip to the Williamsburg Lodge to see the gingerbread house, and a walk along DoG Street to check out the Colonial decorations. While we're out, we'll slip over to Sal's for a pizza lunch. Feel free to wear holiday shirts, Arc shirts, or any other favorite shirt!
Wednesday: Today's fun will include the showing of a holiday film called The Christmas Chronicles, baking goodies for our family gift bags, and making a lovely ornament using supplies Krafty Karen, our master gardener friend, gave us! Oh, and we'll also prepare The Arc's January mailing! No time to cook, so lunch on your own. The menu says JRES cafeteria is serving Fish Sandwich or Macaroni and Cheese.
Thursday: We'll do one last craft that involves creating a reindeer out of paint and a plastic sandwich bag! We'll also complete some holiday brain work, and assemble our family gift bags. We're headed to Freedom Park for lunch (weather permitting) and a final check of the garden for 2021, where we'll visit with Krafty Karen! Please bring a bagged lunch and Arc shirts are optional.
Friday: We're going to party today! Bring your Secret Santa gifts and be prepared to play games, dance, and enjoy celebrating our great 2021 with all your friends! We'll have party snacks for lunch: meatballs, ham biscuits, mac and cheese, chips/veggies/dips, fruit, and our homemade treats. Feel free to wear your festive holiday outfits, but we'll also wind up the year with yoga, so dress to stretch, too!
Have a great weekend!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
