Reformation Day

2023-24 School Year–Week Eleven

Ladybug worked with sum and difference identities in pre-calculus. After finishing the chapter in physics that introduced Newton’s Laws, she began a chapter applying the Second Law. She finished “The Inferno,” but she’s not done with The Divine Comedy, because we actually read the entire work! She reviewed capitalization rules in grammar. In health, she continued working through a chapter on the five senses focusing this week on the eyes and ears. In religion, she read about the Council of Nicea. She also read about the early days of the US government in US history. In world history she read about the struggle for Byzantine’s throne following the sacking of Constantinople, as well as the rise of the Cathers in western Francia.

Chickadee added and subtracted decimals with varying place values in math. In religion, she read about the end of the time of the Judges in Israel, as well as the first kings. She read about the first kings of England, beginning with Alfred the Great in history. She continued learning about the respiratory system in science, finally making her way to the lungs. In grammar, she learned how to diagram prepositional phrases acting as other parts of speech. We never did start The Hobbit this week, because she was a little under the weather and I let her take it a little easy.

We also put in a group effort to make Reformationsbrötchen for Reformation Day. Chickadee helped make the rolls themselves, and Ladybug made and applied the glaze. They were really delicious, and we had a little fun with Little Luther, too!

It’s almost time for our annual studies of Thanksgiving!

Tasty Tuesday–Reformationsbrötchen

As soon as I saw German Girl in America’s recipe for Reformationsbrötchen, I knew I had to make them! Who doesn’t want to make rolls that look like Luther’s Rose? They’re really delicious…light and fluffy, with the perfect flavors for fall, featuring lemon and cranberry…and so cute. I left out the almonds, and we didn’t miss them, but I’m sure they make a great addition!

Reformation Day/Halloween 2021

Today was the rare occasion where Reformation Day/Halloween actually falls on a Sunday. We started the day at church, where we enjoyed some especially amazing music featuring hymns written by Martin Luther:

We went for a short walk in Forest Park after the service, where we enjoyed the beautiful fall colors (in spite of the wind):

I was so excited to pick up a box of Monster Mash cereal for the Fab Five for breakfast!

This afternoon, we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time, as well as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. For dinner, I made potato-parsnip soup, cheese and jam turnovers, and butterbeer…it was the perfect meal for today!

Dessert was the Jell-O Halloween Special, as advertised by Harlow Wilcox in the 1940s…”Looks like a dish of sunshine all dressed up, doesn’t it?”

I chose my costume in Animal Crossing: New Horizons with great care…I’m a hot dog!

I tracked down the Czar of Halloween right away.

I think my neighbors enjoyed the festivities, too!

This was a busier Halloween than most for us, and it was a very fun day!

A Markel Family…Halloween?

As a family, we’ve never been into Halloween. Not once have the children dressed up and gone trick-or-treating, nor have they gone to any Halloween parties. Sure, we visit the pumpkin patch every year, and we listen to the Baby Snooks 1946 Halloween special and watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown multiple times every October. But come October 31st each year, we celebrate Reformation Day instead of Halloween.

Kind of. As the years have gone by, we’ve edged a little closer to a traditional Halloween celebration. I think it all started with Legends and Lanterns, which we’ve visited faithfully every year since its inception. While we still don’t go trick-or-treating (and honestly, we only have one, maybe two children who are still of the age for doing so, anyway!), we have carved a pumpkin (an activity that the children thought was fun to try once, but have no desire to do again!). We’ve also started having a special dinner featuring recipes from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. So I thought this year, I’d take a look at how we’ve come to celebrate Halloween.

Halloween breakfast has always featured either Cap’n Crunch’s Halloween Crunch or one of the General Mills Monster Cereals. This year, it was Franken Berry (while we listened to Baby Snooks):

I also found a special treat to go with lunch…pumpkin pie Rice Krispies Treats:

Of course I had the perfect outfit for the occasion:

And a “Little Luther” thrown in, because it is still Reformation Day, after all!

On to our feast for the day. I made one favorite recipe from the cookbook (pumpkin fizz), and tried three new options…”ghoul”-ash (I came up with that version of the name, and I’m rather proud of it!), and glazed carrots for dinner, and chocolate eclairs for dessert. They were all delicious!

We spent the day watching our favorite movies and TV shows that fit the theme…Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Bewitched, The Simpsons, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (we watched Meet Me in St. Louis recently, which is a family favorite, and has a great Halloween scene, so we didn’t watch it again today, although we often do on Halloween).

So that’s our not-really-Halloween, Halloween celebration. It’s still not my favorite holiday, but I really do love the fun ways we’ve found to put our own spin on it, and it’s definitely something I’ve come to look forward to each October!

Chickadee Thursday

Chickadee was very excited to receive an abridged version of Luther’s Small Catechism at catechesis yesterday, and she was even more excited to pair it with our Little Luther for Reformation Day today!

Chatting with Chickadee

This morning, while we were getting ready for Reformation Sunday church, I was telling the children about how much my Dad loved singing “A Mighty Fortress,” and how I always associate Reformation Day with him belting it out in German. Well, the first line of the hymn, anyway, because that’s all I really remember him singing auf deutsch. I commented that for all I knew, he only ever learned the first line of the song in German, but he definitely sang that one line with gusto. At which point, Chickadee looked at me and said, “I didn’t know he knew a guy named Gusto!” Hilarity ensued, and now I have an even better story to tell!

A Family Feast Mash-Up

In our house, October 31st is pretty much about Reformation Day, because we’re not really into Halloween (or are we?). But this year, since we’ve been so focused on Harry Potter, I wanted something that was both a nod to the series, which celebrates Halloween, as well something that was a reference to our German heritage/Reformation Day. So I came up with what I think was a good compromise…we had a German dinner of brats, sauerkraut, and kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes), with a pumpkin-themed desert featuring recipes from our Harry Potter Cookbook (pumpkin fizz and pumpkin pasties).

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the “Reformation Polka,” reading about Martin Luther while hearing Lutheran hymns, listening to the Baby Snooks Halloween special, and watching The Wizard of Oz, Rick Steves’ Luther and the Reformation special, Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting, and Halloween episodes of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. It’s not really a traditional Halloween celebration, and not only a Reformation Day observance, but it’s very us!

Celebrating Reformation 500 with Little Luther

The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is far too big a deal to be limited to just one service! Our celebration started with Luther’s Deutsche Messe at Hope Lutheran in St. Louis on Reformation Sunday, and Little Luther was there with us:

There were other services we could have attended between then and now, but the big event was tonight’s Reformation 500 service at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. We were there early enough to have a nice walk around the campus, and Little Luther got to see all the sights:

Little Luther also joined us for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Seamus McDaniel’s!

The celebration isn’t even over yet…we still have the American Kantorei’s Reformation concert at St. Paul Des Peres on Sunday afternoon!