Holiday Waldorf Festivites

I have been very, very busy. Ever since the Lilac Moon Play-School re-opened in my home in September, I have stayed up nights cleaning, prepping, baking, etc. It is amazing what it takes to run a Waldorf program in my home two mornings a week. I know I work well over forty hours a week. I am learning that in some ways it is easier to be on a faculty at a large school. I used to share all of the planning and duties for festivals and special events with several other teachers and we had a large parent body to pull from for volunteer help. I am now trying to do all of this myself. I would still rather have my own school and be my own boss any day, but my goodness, it's a lot of work. We had our lantern walk for Martinmas two weeks ago. It went well, but I learned that I did not ask for nearly enough parent help, until two days before the event, when I was about to panic. A few people came through to help, but set-up had no early helpers, and it was SO hard. I worked my 13 year old boy like a slave. He had such a great attitude about the whole thing. He really is a wonderful kid. I am ever so continually thankful for him. He helped me with his bike and bike cart, going back and forth several times, putting over 40 luminaries throughout the Poudre river path in the woods. It was exceptionally windy that afternoon, so lighting the candles in them proved to be a tricky venture, but after so much effort, we had an incredible walk through a magically lit woods, singing under a full moon. The children loved it. I may have loved it even more.
Now we are one week from an even bigger event- the Advent Spiral, which I am combining with St. Nikolas Day. My friend Alisa was over last night until midnight, helping me felt wool story characters. I am also creating a little cottage for St. Nik, out of sticks and a glue gun. It is cute so far, and I am thoroughly enjoying the creation of it. She will help me go up Wrist Canyon next Friday to collect many Evergreen Boughs for the spiral. There is a dizzying amount of work to be done, but I think it will be beautiful!
Back to work I go!
Oh- we finally got a bit (a light dusting very teeny bit) of snow last night. I was wondering if Winter was ever coming to Colorado this year?