Christmas is a very special time of the year, specially if you are working with kids. Even though you think you don’t like this season of the year, being surrounded by children definitely makes you change your mind about it. In the 3rd Kindergarten of Vrontados, this month has been filled with a magical atmosphere. As a volunteer, I have had the pleasure to help both the teacher and the children to prepare for the holidays. It started early in the month. In the first days we prepare an advent calendar, which the children anxiously opened every day. But the best moment for them was when we put up the Christmas tree and they got to put up some of the decorations. All the kids took part in this activity and it was a very exciting moment for them.
In the next days, the lessons were filled by Christmas activities, carols and story tales. The most used and heard words during this month at the Kindergarten were: Χριστούγεννα (Christmas), Άγιος Βασίλης (Santa Claus), Ελαφάκι (Reindeer) and Ελατο/δέντρο (the Christmas tree). Every morning I helped the teachers prepare the crafts for the day. As I said before, everything was Christmas themed, which made everything more exciting for the children, like coloring a tree based on numbers assigned to each color, so they continue familiarizing with the numbers and their meaning, specially the smallest ones. Even though everything was more relaxed this month, they never stopped learning.
One day was dedicated to learning about the Greek traditions for Christmas. One of the classes learned about Chios traditions, like songs and social festivities. This was particularly interesting to see for me as an outsider because I got to learn with them about the traditions of the island. In this case, the tradition they learned about was called Πρωτοχρονιάτικα καραβάκια (Boats of New Years), and consists of a gathering in the main square of the city where the people from different neighborhoods present different boats that they have created, honoring the sailors and the Greek navy. The ceremony is accompanied by traditional Christmas songs sang by each group. At the end of the evening, one group is awarded as the winner of the competition.
The other class learned about traditional Greek food for Christmas, and for the occasion they had one of the grandmothers of the kids prepare a traditional Greek Christmas meal called Λαχανοντολμάδες, stuffed cabbage leaves with rice and pork, and the kids assisted her and learned about the process. At the end of the day, we all prepared a big table and decorated it with some of the crafts that they had done during the month, like a Santa Claus glass and plate, a personalized tablecloth for each children and napkin holders with the shape of Rudolph the red nose reindeer. We all enjoyed an amazing meal followed by traditional sweets, like homemade Μπακλαβάς (baklava) and more Christmas carols.
One of the biggest moments for both the kids and the teachers was the Christmas play. Since the beginning of the month both classes started rehearsing their own plays. One class was representing the birth of Jesus and the transformation of the Christmas tree, from a regular tree to a magical one, representing the spirit of the holidays. The other class had a little musical where the kids sang, dance and played the triangle, joined by one of the teachers, who played an evil witch turned good by the Christmas spirit. Because of Covid-19, the parents could not attend the play, so the school recorded both plays and made a disk for the parents with a photo album for each children.
The penultimate day before closing the school for the holidays, the teachers and me prepared paper bags for the children with their names on it and some drawings were then they put all the crafts that they had made throughout the month to carry home as gifts for their families. It was also the day where we exchanged gifts for each other and also some of the kids, specially the ones whose name day is during Christmas brought sweets and gifts for everyone.
As I said at the beginning, Christmas is a very special time of the year, and being a volunteer in this school felt like a privilege more than ever, not only because you get to share it with the little kids and be a part of their enthusiasm, but also because of the comforting feeling from the teachers.
