Amahl and the Night Visitors

A Tree of Good Wishes

Every year we hang antique holiday postcards all over our Christmas tree.  Real postcards from back in the day when a 1 cent stamp covered postage (early 1900’s).  Real postcards with holiday messages displaying splendid cursive penmanship.  Over the years, we’ve loved how the vintage illustrations dress up the tree, but this year my son and I decided to actually read what was written on the postcards:

The majority of the cards:  Wishing happiness! – Wishing good health! 
Wishing many good Xmas wishes! – Wishing a joyful Xmas! – The kindest of wishes! 

MOST POETIC POSTCARD MESSAGE goes to “Charity” (1908), who squeezed into the small writing space:
“Each year to ancient friendships adds a ring. As to an oak, and precious more and more. Without deservingness or help of ours.  They grow, and silent, wider-spread each year. Their unbought ring of shelter or of shade.”  (Either we are too immature to appreciate this or perhaps this is a secret message written in code, but Charity, wherever you are:  CHEERS!).  

MOST UNIQUE CHRISTMAS CARD MESSAGE was certainly from Mattie to Albert (1909):  “Received the chickens – all O.K.”.  Apparently Miss Mattie was not given to effusiveness.  (Effusiveness:  new vocabulary word for my son).

December Reading –

Mrs. Coverlet’s Magicians:   My dad first read Mary Nash’s clever Christmas themed book to my sister and me when it arrived via “The Weekly Reader Children’s Book Club” back in 1962.  I remember asking my dad to re-read the page that listed the names of the household’s kittens:  Mary Mouse, George Soup, Ernest Waffle, Sally Egg, and the baddest kitten, John Napkin.  This book struck a chord with me, so here I am decades later, reading it every single December to my son.  And we are reading the very same precious 1962 edition (although I do have 3 backups for just in case).

Dogtown:  co-authored by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko.  This book is a charmer, written from the viewpoint of a dog who has found herself in the local dog shelter (“Dogtown”).  It eases the reader into looking beyond diversity and disability and focusing on real issues (forging friendships/finding a “forever home”).  There were tears when we read the final page (from me, not my son), and my son was glad to see the sequel, “Mouse and His Dog” under the Christmas tree.

December Reading Comprehension – My son smiles big when he sees a new Clem and Clyde reading comp worksheet.  I smile big when I am writing a new Clem and Clyde reading comp worksheet:

Story Problem from the Local Diner –

During December, the diner adds their rich, creamy, “town-famous” hot cocoa to the menu.  Each mug of chocolate deliciousness is topped off with 5 mini marshmallows.  If the diner buys 16-ounce bags of mini marshmallows, and each bag contains 700 mini marshmallows, how many bags will the diner need if they predict serving 3,000 mugs of hot chocolate this December?

a)  5 bags     b)  22 bags    c)  300 bags    d)   700 bags (answer at bottom of post)

Our 2025 Christmas Music Obsession –

Somehow, we came across John Rutter’s “Shepherd’s Pipe Carol” and became enchanted with the lavish harmonies and unexpected rhythms. We found out what a shepherd’s pipe is (lots of definitions: recorder, wooden flute, pan pipes) and we read that composer/lyricist John Rutter, was inspired by Menotti’s one act opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors (first performed in 1951) (so we read a synopsis of Amahl and the Night Visitors).  Rutter wrote this carol in 1966 when he was an undergraduate at University of Cambridge.  We just love this piece!

Finally, looking toward the new year –

Another story problem from the Local Diner:  The diner has set up a New Year’s Resolution bulletin board next to the cashier’s counter.  The board will be up all year.  Anyone can tack up a card with their New Year’s Resolution.  As soon as a goal has been reached, a giant gold star sticker will be put on the card.  

– For example, Miss Olive has made a resolution to clean up her dining room, 
which has turned into a warehouse of clutter.  As soon as Miss Olive’s dining room looks again like a dining room, she gets to stick a gold star on her resolution card. –  

To further encourage success, the diner will serve up a hot fudge sundae to anyone presenting their gold starred resolution card!
– If 250 customers tack up resolutions and at the end of the year there are gold stars on 40% of the resolution cards, how many people did NOT fulfill their New Year’s Resolution?
a)  40  people  b)  60 people     c)  100 people     d)  150 people
– If a hot fudge sundae costs the diner $3, how much money will they have spent on the customers who fulfilled their New Year’s resolution?
a)  $30     b)  $120     c)  $300     d)  $750 (answer at bottom of post)

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
Story problem answers:  b)  22 bags of marshmallows and d)  150 people and c)  $300 

The Power of the Deadline

I set myself a goal to post one more time before 2020.  So, VOILA!  Where have I been?  It’s been two and half months!  (We are still here, we are still reading stories and delving into academic material every night.)  My “Poor Me” explanation is hastily offered at the bottom of the page.  But meanwhile, a brief review of what we’ve been learning:

Nonfiction – 

Low Earth Orbit – Oh my gosh, who wouldn’t feel elite and intellectual knowing what LOW EARTH ORBIT means?  Being able to use it in a sentence?  That is one reason my son and I loved “Building on a Dream:  The International Space Station”, written by Tamra B. Orr, published in 2018 (so essentially up to date).  We learned that anything that orbits within 1,200 miles from the earth’s surface is considered LEO.  The ISS is positioned 240 miles from the earth’s surface.  MATH PROBLEM:   1)  If the moon is approximately 240,000 miles from earth, the ISS is what percentage of that distance?  2)  If the ISS circles Earth 15.5 times daily, how many orbits are made in a year? (answers at bottom of post) 

Opera Stories – “Sing Me a Story” – a worthy book by the Metropolitan Opera that explains in great detail an array of opera stories.  Our brief synopses of the book’s synopses – 

  • Aida – SAD:  a terrible misunderstanding, lovers die at end
  • Amahl and the Night Visitors – HAPPY:  good things come to those pure of heart
  • The Barber of Seville – HAPPY:  characters in disguise, happy ending
  • La Boheme – SAD:  poverty, love, tragic death
  • Carmen – SAD:  Carmen (not a sympathetic character) comes to a bad end (a stabbing death)
  • The Daughter of the Regiment – HAPPY:  all sorts of surprises, happy ending
  • L’Enfant et les Sortilèges – HAPPY, SORT OF:  naughty boy has a change of heart
  • Die Fledermaus – HAPPY:  ever so many things going on, merry ending
  • Hansel and Gretel – HAPPY, SORT OF:  morbid fun
  • The Love for Three Oranges – WHO KNOWS:  way, way, way too confusing for the likes of us
  • The Magic Flute – HAPPY:  really long, many intertwined themes, triumphant ending
  • Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – HAPPY, SORT OF: the trials of joining the town chorus
  • Pagliacci – SAD:  vintage opera (clowns and a stabbing)
  • Porgy and Bess – HEART WRENCHING:  drugs, gambling, murder.  Too adult for us.
  • The Tales of Hoffman – SAD:  the three weird loves of ETA Hoffman PLUS tuberculosis

Around the World – we really enjoyed every page of “Amazing Expeditions” by Anita Ganeri, superbly illustrated by Michael Mullan.  

  • Most engaging journeys – Marco Polo, Norgay and Hillary, Ellen MacArthur
  • Most likable expedition leader – James Cook
  • Most unlikable expedition leader – Hernan Cortes

Maurice Sendak – we are in the middle of a unit on American illustrator Maurice Sendak, using multiple resources.  We loved learning that among his many jobs, Sendak constructed window displays for famed NYC toy store, FAO Schwartz.  We are fascinated by the meticulous crosshatching in many of Sendak’s illustrations (and we tried our hand at crosshatching)(and we were terrible, our drawings looked like fly eyes).

Book Learnin’ – we have been giving focused attention to book anatomy:  prologue, epilogue, table of contents, and glossary.   But mostly THE TABLE OF CONTENTS.  We are astonished by what we can learn just by fully appreciating a good table of contents.  

Fiction – 

“The Best Man” – as per usual, Richard Peck writes a well-paced book we were happy to open every night.  Amid the chaos of middle-school hijinks, restoring automobiles, best friend’s mom becoming a teacher, and computer geeks, the theme of an uncle being gay is woven in seamlessly.   This is the first time I have discussed homosexuality with my son and this book made it easy.  Kudos to the late Richard Peck (he passed away in 2018).

hearts and music

Classical Music Corner – our favorite pieces that we heard for the first time in 2019:

  • Tambourin, composed by Francois-Joseph Gossec for his 1794 opera, “Le Triomphe de la Republique”.   We just LOVE this short happy piece, here played by the best:  Sir James Galway:

  • Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C major, movement 3, composed in 1777.  Great piece:  so precise and borderline fussy:

  • Mozart’s Flute Concerto No.2 in D major, movement 3, “composed” in 1778 (it is the same thing as the Oboe Concerto, just transposed for flute – so the patron refused to pay!)  We had to have a listen:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

Low Earth Orbit math problem answers:  1)  .001%  and 2)  56.6 orbits

PS  My original plan was to post twice monthly.  It is still my plan.  Here is the thing:  the past 6 months my son’s full-throttle OCD has significantly narrowed the hours I have to think, write, and post our stories and studies progress.  Please, 2020 be a nicer year than 2019.