Winter Break Holiday Programs
Let the CELEBRATIONS Begin!
Celebrating traditions of the past, present, and future
The good things in life are recounting memories and creating experiences, and this is what the holiday season is about. As we grow traditions in the Lyceum's new home, we will also enter a new year and an exciting new chapter in our eighteen years of operation.
This holiday season, we'll inaugurate our new space with some of our favourite Lyceum traditions and create some new ones. Let's celebrate together.
About Christianne’s Lyceum
Christianne’s Lyceum is a centre that celebrates literature and art and puts it at the heart of family and community life. Through programs that emphasise making connections between literature and what’s going on in the outside world, the Lyceum encourages young people to see themselves as readers, writers and artists, as they engage with abstract ideas and reflect on their place in society. Armed with these experiences, students begin to seek possibilities and explore ways that they can use their voices and actions to participate in their communities.
The Lyceum is a cozy living room, a specialized library, a well-equipped studio and a whimsical art gallery bound up in one. It’s a place that brings together writers, illustrators, educators and families to share diverse ways of making meaning, different schools of thought, and the richness of story in its many forms.
Age Restrictions
Age restrictions for our programs are guidelines only. If your child is interested in a program that is aimed at a slightly older or slightly younger age group, please give us a call to discuss if this class would be a good fit.
Program Details
Every holiday program will invite children to decorate gluten-free homemade Christmas cookies and delight in stories from Christianne's extraordinary holiday book collection.
The Twelve Days of Christmas:
Piggyback song and book making
Ages: 3 to 5
Cost: $144 (2 mornings, 3 hours each)
Monday, December 16th, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Wednesday, December 18th, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 AM
If you have a preschooler who is looking to get in on the holiday merriment, we’re offering a two day drop-in option during the last week of the fall term Preschool Literature and Art class. We’ll be rifting off The Twelve Days of Christmas to create brand new lyrics written and illustrated by your preschoolers.
On Monday we'll write funny lines (scribed of course) and start our canvas board illustrations and on Wednesday we will finish and begin printing. Coil-bound copies will be available for pick up on Friday in time for the holidays. We guarantee that you will want to order a few copies for the grandparents!
Oyster Angels and Walnut Mice:
West Coast tree ornaments
Ages: 5 to 12
Time: Saturday, December 7th, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Cost: $95 + GST (4 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
We’re not sure if you’ve ever looked closely at the smooth pearlescent grooves of an oyster shell, but if you haven’t, fear not…it’s not a prerequisite for this camp. We’ll be using shells, sans seafood, to create holiday angels that will make your tree the talk of the town. Christianne will take you through the materials provided to fashion the head, legs and wings of your angel. Making sure your vision comes to life, you’ll be able to use trinkets and treasures to adorn miniature outfits and create something that will be passed down through the generations. A uniquely West Coast ornament!
To make sure that your angel doesn’t go home without a friend, each participant will also be invited to craft a walnut acorn mouse, complete with teeny tiny eyes, a warm blanket edged in lace and of course an adorably long and winding tail. Give as gifts, or use them to add to an incredibly festive hearth or windowsill.
Granny Blake’s Toffee:
A 170 year old tradition
Ages: 10 and up
Time: Saturday, December 7th, 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Cost: $95 + GST (4 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
Loved by all and attended by many over the years, this camp allows participants to delve into the annals of Lyceum tradition. The secret recipe for Granny Blake’s toffee was brought to Canada 116 years ago by Christianne’s great grandmother, Amy Chappel, and has been made by her family ever since. Amy’s mother learned to make the delectable sweet from her grandmother.
Now’s your chance to join us for a camp that our students beg to attend every year. With an hour to stir, an hour to cut and an hour to wrap, there’s still plenty of time to hear a story. We’ll also package our confection in small portions ready for you to give when the spirit takes you. Tastes have the ability to transform, taking us back to the moment we experienced them for the first time. We hope that each piece of toffee melts away the bad, and welcomes in the good.
(Shhhh...you also get to take home the coveted recipe.)
Bringing Back the Light:
How cultures bring light to winter darkness
Ages: 6 to 12
Time: Tuesday, December 10th, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Cost: $150 + GST (6 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
Around the world cultures have developed ways to hold back the dark and herald the cheer that comes with light. Let’s envelop ourselves in festive cheer, shared traditions and stories while we work to forge something truly unique. In the run up to winter solstice, campers will make their own twinkle light hoods from delicate scrapbooking paper, following the folds of ancient traditions and becoming immersed in its art. You bring the dexterity and we’ll provide the rest — a unique set of embellished twinkle lights guaranteed to bring the spirit of the holidays into any room.
After refuelling with a spot of lunch, campers will use natural beeswax to roll a plate of their own sushi candles and embellished tapers. Whether presented as a gift to the host of a family holiday gathering, or enjoyed each day over the festive period, these adorable mindings cheer the darkest of spaces..
The Gift of Tea:
The teapot is your canvas
Ages: 8 to 12
Time: Saturday, December 14th, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Cost: $118 + GST (6 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
In the theme of nourishing the soul, this camp is one for those of you who want to find a little calm amidst the holiday rush. We imagine that with all the moving parts in people’s lives at the moment, holiday shopping has taken somewhat of a back seat. Why not take the stress out of gift giving by simply making your own.
Each camper will have their own china teapot to adorn with beautifully coloured ceramic paints. We’ll take things slowly and spend time designing, sketching out and painting delicate designs onto our set before making up the perfect tea blend to nestle inside. We’ll introduce traditional ingredients for your bespoke tea and a few quirky ones as well.
We’ll explore the history of taking time for tea through a carefully curated selection of literature including: The Willow Pattern Story by Allan Drummond, Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet, and Tea with milk by Allen Say.
Dungeons & Dragons:
A Solstice campaign
Ages: 9 and up*
Time: Sunday, December 15th, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Cost: $117 + GST (5 hours plus an hour dinner break)
The holidays are the time of year when we stop long enough to share stories of the year past. This season the Lyceum invites you to share a story through the lens of Dungeons and Dragons. Join our resident Game Master, Liam Bevelander, and explore a story yet untold for a full day.
As the solstice draws closer, the veil between worlds grows thin allowing for any number of odd sorts to cross over. Fae, ghosts, or even ancient gods may have their chance for chaos and only our heroes can bar the gate.
This game will be split over two sessions with an intermission of sorts to shake out the pins and needles before returning with rapt attention. While D&D is for everyone, due to the time limitations of this program, we are calling for experienced players. By this, we mean players who are familiar with the rules of the game and who have already created their own character. This will help smooth out the start of the day and allow us more time to explore.
A Touch of Wool:
Knitted garlands and crocheted snowflakes
Ages: 10 and up
Time: Monday, December 16th, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Cost: $70 + GST (3 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
The excitement of watching out the window, the air thick with anticipation, seeing that first snowflake fall; it’s a ritual that endures no matter the age. We’ll celebrate this on a chilly evening in December by getting cosy and keeping the warmth of our hot chocolate mugs moving through our fingers.
Christianne will guide everyone through the basics of crocheting to form either incredibly intricate, or unapologetically classic, garland designs. There is something both grounding and meditative about that direct connection we have when creating art with our hands. We’ll embrace the absence of technology and let the yarn do the talking.
We’ll then move onto crocheting snowflakes and with every snowflake being unique, there’s no wrong way to do it. Give as a gift, or save for somewhere special in your own home. The choice is yours!
Holiday Reflections:
Mosaic mirrors, preserving memories
Ages: 6 to 12
Time: Tuesday, December 17th, 10:00 Am to 4:00 PM
Cost: $145 + GST (6 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
Introducing our newest addition to the holiday roster. On this particular evening, we’re inviting you to form something that will last not just days, but decades.
With a twist on the more practised method of using ceramic tiles, this time we will mosaic with broken china. We invite participants to bring in some well-loved serveware to transform into an art piece. We’re rejecting the ‘perfect’ and embracing anything that may be cracked, crumbling, or even better…in a million different pieces. It could have been the plate your parents were given when you first started eating solid food, or a memory from the friendships forged at school. If it has sentimental value, all the better.
We’ll read heirloom holiday stories while planning out our mosaic mirror designs, capitalising on the supportive environment that we’ve all come to know and love. Each participant will be able to immortalise their most valued memories, and perhaps even return them to their original owners as an incredibly precious gift!
Pick-up will be the next day after grouting is complete and dry.
Story your tree:
Illustrate 6 word stories in miniature book ornaments
Ages: All ages
Time: Tuesday, December 17th, 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Cost: $93+ GST (4 hours)
We are all familiar with the nostalgic wonder with which we unwrap each ornament at Christmas. Each bauble reveals a memory from childhood (be it ours, or our children’s), indicating what caught your eye at a specific moment in time. With this class we want to add to that, enriching your collection of handmade tree ornaments.
Christianne will share some of her favourite holiday stories, explore those of the group, and use everything as inspiration for miniature books to hang on our holiday tree. We’ll focus on the magic of the six word story, making it as festive (or unfestive) as you’d like. Focusing our attention on dexterity, you can illustrate to your heart's content.
We’ll help you bind a collection of tiny 8 page books that pack a powerful punch. Attach a ribbon, to ensure it’s place on every tree of the future.
*Attend this class as a family, a sibling unit, or a friendship circle.
A Wreathful of joy:
Woven grape vines from Saturna with local greens
Ages: All ages/family
Time: Wednesday, December 18th, 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Cost: $110 + GST (4.5 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
Over the course of the evening, participants will be guided through the intricate process of wreath making. Using locally sourced and natural materials including grape vine cuttings from the Sage Hayward vineyard on Saturna Island, campers will insert scotch pine, fir, cedar and hemlock with special attention paid to the olfactory senses.
Students will intersperse their boughs with cinnamon sticks, sliced and dried oranges, nutmeg, potpourri and a feathered bird ornament before adding festive ribbon to ensure easy hanging
.
Of course you won’t spend the time in silence, as Christianne regales the group with some lesser known holiday stories to accompany the Lyceum’s famous hot chocolate, marshmallows and shortbread.
*We invite you to bring a tupperware of supper to nibble on across the evening.
Winter birdsong:
Tiny fingers create a flock of birds
Ages: 3 to 5
Time: Thursday, December 19th, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Cost: $72 + GST (3 hours)
Everyone loves birds; they are captivating in their uniqueness, spanning all colours of the rainbow, all shapes, sizes and plumage. Christianne will shephard the group through multiple interactive stories following our most cherished feathered friends.
After stopping for fuel (don’t worry, it’s something far more enticing than bird seed), we’ll begin using multimedia to create representations of local birds the children have come to know and love. We’ll use shrink art, foam, feathers and felt to bring these colourful bird ornaments to life before you get to choose whether they’re suspended from a bedroom window, or hung to keep watch over the family’s Christmas tree. They’ll look so good you’ll think they can fly.
Snap, Cracker, Pop!
Holiday crackers for the family table
Ages: All ages/family
Time: Thursday, December 19, 2024, 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Cost: $75 + GST (3 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
The gifts nestled inside today’s crackers are at most an inexpensive plastic figure, a paper hat and a joke. As things become more expensive, we want to return to the days of old and elevate the humble, but enduring christmas cracker. Kicking things up a notch, we’ll spend the evening making our very own handmade gifts using treasures found in the extensive resource bank of the Lyceum. This could be anything from a miniature sculpted character from your camper’s favourite book, a piece of beach glass transformed into jewellery, or a tiny story rolled in a teeny tiny bottle. Of course we’ll nestle in hats, fortunes and a snapper!
We’ll decorate our vessels (maximum of 8 crackers) in whatever way you’d like, with the only limitation being your creativity. These are best shared around a festive table with loved ones!
Gift and Gab:
A teen circle for chatting and crafting
Ages: 10 and up
Time: Friday, December 20, 2024, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Cost: $70 + GST (3 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
This year we launched a monthly craft and chat series on Friday evenings. The aim was to create a safe space for teens to gather and enjoy vibrant conversation while they craft. We’re dedicating the December session to gift making! It will be an opportunity for teens to share their rants, excitements and anxieties around the holidays, while creating gifts for others.
We’ll have 4 stations: felting, beading, tiny prints and mini cross stitch. Students are invited to choose whichever one(s) sparks joy for what they’d like to work on in the allotted time. Fear not, there will also be opportunities to take materials home for finishing if your teen’s creative eyes are bigger than their crafting bellies
Whether it’s for a friend’s birthday, a token for a family member to let them know they’re special, or a memento of your time spent at the Lyceum, the possibilities are endless.
Help the Faeries Get Ready for Solstice:
The first night of bringing back the sun
Ages: 6 to 12
Time: Saturday, December 21st, 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Cost: $145 + GST (6 hours)
There will always be a special space reserved for the Lyceum’s resident Fae in our holiday camp roster. It seems even more significant after last year’s big move, but our loyal followers made sure that no Fae were left behind, creating pathways of moon lights and tiny maps on hedge tops that led to the new, and now beautifully established, moss garden.
Over the course of the day, we will experience an abundance of enthusiasm, as well as some expert insight into recent activity in the Lyceum’s faerie garden. Stories of our resident Fae is a “Christianne specialty.” Campers will craft a show-stopping Solstice resting circle mounted on ceramic tile. Each camper will make an embellished pillar candle, from local beeswax to nestle inside a safety votive as the centre of this gathering spot Next we will create woven garlands from cedar cuttings and twinkle lights to create an outside ring of light.
Stopping for lunch (and a spot of tea) students will swap creative ideas, perhaps taking inspiration from the group for those carefully considered finishing touches and faerie furniture.
There is something so heartwarming about renewing our commitment to honouring imagination that is so deeply woven throughout both our city, and our Lyceum community.
The Night Tree:
An enduring Lyceum tradition
Your camper can attend the morning (10:00 AM to 1:00 PM)
OR the afternoon (1:30 PM to 4:30 PM)
OR all day!
Ages: All ages/family
Time: Sunday, DECEMBER 22nd , 10:00 AM TO 4:30 PM
Cost: $152 + GST (6.5 hours) we’ll prorate for a half day option
adults are welcome to participate for free!
A Lyceum institution, the Night Tree activity is one we have practised every year since we opened our doors!
Have you ever counted the number of holiday tree stories? Christianne has 37 in her personal collection, from all faiths and from all over the world. She’ll share a selection of these throughout the day, beginning with Night Tree by Eve Bunting, and The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco, both stories of selfless giving during the holidays.
This year we’re doing things a little differently…using the same classic stories throughout the day, we’ll spend the morning making our own special ornaments to adorn trees at home.
If you’re joining us all day (which we think you’ll want to), we’ll break for lunch, nibbling while we listen to festive tunes before moving on to something equally as exciting. We’ll create edible ornaments for our forest creature friends before journeying down to a hidden nook in Trimble park. Here we’ll end the day by decorating the tree with tasty morsels for birds. squirrels and mice and begin singing carols by candlelight (including one we’ll write ourselves).
*A wonderful way to wind down with loved ones, before things get really busy.
Time capsules:
Stop time to create memories
Ages: All ages/family
Time: Friday, January 3rd, 2025, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Cost: $168 + GST (7 hours)
adults are welcome to participate for free!
Heralding in the new year always brings with it a mixture of feelings. Naturally, we spend time reflecting on our achievements, losses and gains, taking stock of what we’re grateful for. We also look to move forward, stepping into opportunities that are yet to present themselves.
There’s no better way to spend one of the first days in the new year, than by compiling your very own time capsule. Whether you choose to lock it in the attic or bury it in the yard, we’ll provide the box, the lock, and the materials for capturing a sense of who we really are.
Students will write a letter to their future selves detailing current passions and advice they’d like to share.
We’ll spend time making miniature canvases for future dorm rooms and family homes and proceed to enclose them in our capsules.
Of course we’ll leave the boxes unlocked so that participants can share with their families before closing them up and sealing in their power.
Back to Hogwarts Sleepover
AGES: 10 and up
Time: Friday, January 3rd to Saturday, January 4th, 2025
January 3rd 5:30 PM to 4th 11:30 AM
Cost: $165 + GST (18 hours of sleep over for you)
What could be better than getting together with a group of people who are just as fanatical about Harry Potter as you are?! There is something truly magical about shared experiences like these, and we feel passionately that they’re not to be missed.
You can dro(p your witch or wizard off as the clock strikes 5:30 PM, then officially switch into ‘do not disturb mode’. We’ll make sure there’s enough food to feast on (with intermittent treat breaks as the night progresses), and enough materials to build castle nooks that would rival the ones in Hogwarts. Each camper will be invited to make their own broom, complete with flashlight, for an epic game of night Quidditch if numbers permit or we’ll practise night spells with giant sparklers..
We have all the movies and will prioritise showing the ones favoured by campers.
In the morning, bleary eyed, but still in possession of their powers, we’ll invite campers to tuck into a berry waffle breakfast before handing them back to you.
