Monday Pep Talk No. 19
Are you still basking in the post-Thanksgiving glow? I don’t know if it’s the residual tryptophan or just the fact that it’s a post-holiday Monday, but this week’s pep talk feels particularly necessary!
3 fun things to do this week
Celebrate Dice Day (this Friday) by playing your family’s favorite dice games. (We love Can’t Stop, which is fast-paced and fun but easy for inexperienced gamers, and To Court the King, which is a little like a more sophisticated, strategic version of Yahtzee.
Hanukkah starts this weekend, which means it’s time to brush up on your dreidel playing skills. (If you need a refresher on the rules, here’s a handy one.) We have never had good luck making our own dreidels out of clay, so I am tempted to try this recycled CD version this year.
What better way to commemorate Sherlock Holmes’ first appearance in print (“A Study in Scarlet” was published Dec. 1, 1887) than by marathoning the BBC’s modern-day adaptation Sherlock? (This will also help you prep for the show’s upcoming New Year’s special.)
3 ideas for this week’s dinners
A fragrant mix of apples and onions puts a wintry spin on your standby chicken dinner—and makes your whole house smell so good while it’s cooking.
I like mine with parsnips and lima beans, but you can really use any leftover vegetables to make this spiced veggie rice with poached eggs.
For a warm-you-to-the-bones dinner, it’s hard to beat the classic ham bone, greens, and bean soup.
one great readaloud
Celebrate Georges Seurat’s birthday (on Dec. 2) by exploring one of his best known paintings in depth with Robert Burleigh’s engrossing Seurat and La Grande Jatte: Connecting the Dots. (A lot of kids' art books end up being biographies of the artist—which is fine—but I love that this one really focuses on the work itself.)
