Gingerbread Houses Galore!

Today was a tasty day!  Our creative juices were flowing and our mouths were watering as we built gingerbread houses!  The kids had a blast using the different candy decorations but I think their favorite part was eating it (as it is for us all!)

We used the traditional made-at-school-gingerbread-house tools: Graham crackers, icing, paper plates, and candy!

I don't suspect that any of you will be seeing these to take home, so here's a few photos!

Santa Clause is coming to Holly Tree!

Holly Tree was blessed with a very special guest last Thursday.  Mr. Santa Clause himself was here to listen to Christmas lists short and long!

Some of our little friends were not nearly as excited about the man in red as others... but Santa was patient and made sure that all children who wanted to tell Santa their wish lists, could.

At the end of his visit, Santa wished everyone a very merry Christmas and jingled his sleigh bells over the loud speaker as he drove out of sight! :)

We're so glad he was able to make an appearance with his busy schedule this time of year.  Thanks Santa!

It looks like rudolph got off of the sleigh to come say hi!

Or maybe Hannah and Emilia are posing as reindeer and sharing the
accessories... together they make a great rudolph!

What does God want for Christmas?

Our Holly Tree Christmas Program was a huge hit this year!!

We want to say a special thank you to all the parents who came to support your little ones.  The clapping, smiles, and encouraging hugs helped your students feel confident and special during their play and we hope it was a memorable experience for you all!

This year we focused on the play "What does God want for Christmas?"  and as our mock JAM class was going on, the children opened box after box to complete the most adorable living nativity you've ever seen!  Finally it was time to open the last box... it's exactly what God wants for Christmas... and inside was a small mirror.  What God wants for Christmas, is you!  What a beautiful lesson to plant into the hearts of all of our children!  Along with the amazing choir it was a show to not be missed!  We are already excited about next year.

After our play we enjoyed lots of snacks and tasty treats!  A HUGE thank you to all of our parents and staff who brought in their specialties to share with everyone!

Holly Tree Ministries is already looking forward to our Easter program, and with our seasoned cast we know it will be another big success!

If any parents have pictures they would like to submit to Holly Tree for the blog or for the center, please e-mail them to Mrs. Kelle or Mr. Kendall!

Ms. Madeline, AKA Sheep # 2 praying

Sodium

Hello all!  I wanted to post on our awesome Family Ornament Craft night and our tasty Hot Chocolate Bar after school but.... for the life of me I could not find the camera while these fun events were going on (I think one of Santa's Helpers took it to take some pictures for the fabulous slide show you'll all see at our program tomorrow night!) so I apologize, but it was so fun watching all of you guys interact with your little ones and enjoy the time together!

Today, I'm excited to tell you about a new location in Franklin for families!

Sodium Inc. is a faith based non-profit location for families to "Connect. Refuel. [and] Thrive."  They just opened, and we're always on the look out for fun places for our families to enjoy and it looks like we've found another winner!   Their goal is to provide a place where families can reconnect, have fun, relax, enjoy each other, and communicate - all in one place!  We will have brochures here at Holly Tree for our families soon so keep your eye out for that, but until then, check out their website at http://www.sodiuminc.com for more information!

Sodium is located at:
1725 Columbia Avenue (Suite 100)
Franklin, TN 37068
615-260-5916
Monday - Saturday 8am - 8pm


Have a blessed day everyone!  We can't wait to see you all tomorrow at our Holly Tree Christmas Program!  

Thanksgiving Feast!

On Friday we had an amazing time with all of our families during our annual Holly Tree Thanksgiving Lunch!  We served turkey, ham, stuffing, green beans, scalloped potatoes, rolls, pumpkin and pecan pie, and more!  With cars lining the road and parents lining the halls it looked like another big success.  It's always so nice to have family and friends come out to enjoy a special part of our time here at school and we want to thank everyone again for making our Holly Tree Thanksgiving so very special.  We are VERY thankful for all of you and hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving this week!

Happy Veteran's Day!

We've had an exciting day yesterday in celebration of Veteran's Day!  One of our dad's - Mr. Seth, who's also a veteran, came to our school to show us some cool pieces of his uniform that he used to wear, and to read us a story called "The Soldier's Night Before Christmas!"

The kids had a blast playing with the helmet, flashlight, backpack, and uniforms and the story was very sweet.  It's about "the Santa of soldiers" who brings notes and pictures from children back at home to soldiers who are staying far away at Christmas time. 

The children also wanted to show Mr. Seth how well they knew the Pledge of Alliegance!  It was a very special treat and we were so glad we were able to say "Thank You!"

We hope all our veterans had a very blessed Veteran's Day!

Fall Festival Time

We had a blast this past Friday at our annual Fall Festival!  Each classroom played fun games like pin-the-nose-on-the-jack-o-lantern, Candy Corn Toss, and Ooey Gooey Guess!  It's safe to say however, that the crowd favorite was trick-or-treating from classroom to classroom.  All the kiddos looked adorable in their costumes and it was really OUR treat to spend a special day with our families!  Thank you so much to everyone who came out to help!  It was a huge success and we're already looking forward to next year.