The Little Drummer Boy
And we’re back!!! The Sommerfeld family is ready to unveil 2024’s “25 Dates of Christmas”! The kids are a year older, exploring new interests, and this year’s line-up of festivities promises to bring them (and us parents!) heaps of joy.
This year, we did things a little different. Instead of starting on December 1st, we decided to give ourselves a few rest days in the midst of our 25 Dates of Christmas. That meant starting in November. But that was fine by us. It gave us more time for the season!
We kicked off Christmas 2024 in early November with a tribute to “The Little Drummer Boy” that we called “Pat-A-Pat-A-Pan & Pa-Rum-Pum-Pum-Pum”. And we spent the day journeying through that progression that celebrated all things relating to the history and lyrics of the song.
We began with “Pat-A-Pan”, which was the 1720 French Christmas carol that is said to have inspired the 1951 song “The Little Drummer Boy”. That French carol contains similar rhythms as well as the lyrics, “Willie, bring your little drum, Robin take your flute and come!”. And so we had some with some Pat-a-Pancakes and Pan-netone for breakfast while also laughing at Patti LaBelle’s disastrous 1996 Christmas performance of “This Christmas” at the national tree lighting ceremony.
From there, we kept moving into the heart of the day that focused on “The Little Drummer Boy”. The iconic song was originally recorded in 1951 by the Austrian Trapp family (yep, of “Sound of Music” fame) and was then made even more prominent by the 1968 TV special. “The Little Drummer Boy”. It appears twice on Billboard’s list of Top 100 Christmas songs with Pentatonix’s version at #43 and the Harry Simeone Chorale version (from the movie) at #60. Justin Bieber’s version of “Drummer Boy” just missed the cut at #103 but we definitely listened to it throughout the day. However, our family’s favorite will always be the one by For King and Country, although Lindsey Stirling’s version is a close second..
For our “Little Drummer Boy” themed afternoon, we started with reading the book by Bernadette Watts to familiarize the kids with the story. We then transformed the twins into their very own Little Drummers with costumes and toy drums that we crafted. And we fueled them up for their quest to find the Baby Jesus with KFC drumsticks for lunch and some ice cream drumsticks and handcrafted pretzel rods and marshmallow drumsticks for mid-afternoon snacks.
Finally, we began the scavenger hunt to find the Baby Jesus , which ultimately led them to an impressive homemade nativity stable that Ben had secretly constructed over the summer and kept hidden away ever since We played with the nativity stable for a while with a Bethlehem-esque spread of hummus and pitas and appropriately festive 25 Medjool Dates of Christmas. And we capped off dinner with an Ox-tail and Lamb with Thyme stew. After a full day, the kids were worn out and ready for bed.
However, the day wasn’t done yet. Ben had arranged for a finale to the evening that was meant to truly honor the transition of seasons from autumn to Christmas. The nativity stable was transformed into a fall glamping tent. And we grunged down into our most fall-colored cozy winter flannel. The theme of “Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum” was brought to full effect with rum punch and pumpkin rum cake and pumpkin hot buttered rum and a rum plum pudding. All provided a great blend of fall and winter while we played some reindeer rum-my and a new card game we’d discovered called 12 Drummers Drumming. And then we settled into watch “November Christmas”, a heartwarming tale of a brave young girl's battle against cancer and the effect it has on the town around her.
And just like that, the Sommerfeld holiday season is underway!
ACTIVITIES:
12 (Little) Drummers Drumming Hiding Game
Christmas Drum Craft
Little Drummer Boy Costumes
Little Drummer Boy Quest for Jesus
Farewell to Fall Glamping
Reindeer Rummy
"November Christmas" Movie
FOOD & DRINK MENU:
Patti Labelle Pat-a-Pancake
Pannetone Bread
KFC Drumsticks
Drumstick Pretzel Rod Snacks
Pita Bread, Olives, Hummus
The Ox & Lamb w/ Thyme Stew
Pumpkin Spice Rum Chata
Warm Rum Punch
INTERESTING READS & CONTEXT:
