Candle dipping, Felted Acorns and Advent

One of three candle dipping stations                       Treasures made and purchased at the fair

 Candle dipping has always been a feature at most Waldorf school fairs but never at ours so I decided to remedy that a year ago. I have no idea what possessed me as I didn't have a clue but I am proud to say that next year will be even better I as I think I have learned a thing or two about the art of candle dipping, people management, chaos theory, electrical outlets, and the dominion of toddlers over their parents.
Of course we use only beeswax, and not necessarily clarified either- much more character.
Never put a student volunteer at one station longer than one hour due to complete boredom.
Never melt beeswax directly on the stove-quite flammable.
Do not melt the beeswax on a stove in the designated Quiet Room for nursing mothers. They get alarmed when piece of wax drips on the burner and smoke fills the room.
Always, always have two adults in the room plus at least two students manning the stations. Any less and chaos will most definitely reign supreme.
Always monitor the temperature- too hot and the wax will perpetually melt, too cold and well, it is lumpy and prone to breaking. Always keep some extra wax melting to top off each station, and when all else fails simply shut the door until you regain control.
Having said that we made $400,00, the room smelled lovely, and the actual process of candle dipping is very meditative even for the 4 year old.
No one got around to the marzipan acorns but someone did felt acorns that proved irresistible to adults and children.

Our Advent Calendar this year                                 The Gnome Village I won in the raffle at the fair

Advent was not a tradition that either my husband or I grew up with but it is one we have passed on to our children. We have had many variations from a nature table, to a Nutcracker advent story, to a tree box filled with chocolates and charms to create a bracelet- compliments of their generous Aunt Linden. But this year the tradition will really be simple. I was tempted to run out and buy at least chocolates but it feels like the Halloween bags were just emptied and I really wanted to honour a tradition that didn't involve giving 'things'. So this is our calendar that I bought from our school store. There will be no treats or gifts , just a beautiful picture at the end and we will read a chapter every night from the book, Mary's Little Donkey and the Flight to Egypt .