Winter Break Holiday Programs
Holiday Schedule 2022/23
Celebrating traditions of the past, present and future!
About Holiday Programs at Christianne’s Lyceum
The good things in life are recounting memories and creating experiences, and this is what the holiday season is about. As we wave goodbye to this year and the Lyceum’s beloved home, we will also enter a new year and an exciting new chapter.
This holiday season, we’ll inaugurate our brand new space with our favourite Lyceum traditions. Let’s celebrate together.
About Christianne’s Lyceum
Christianne’s Lyceum is a centre that celebrates literature and art and puts it at the centre of family and community life. Through programs that emphasize 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 own place in society. Armed with these experiences, students begin to seek possibility 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.
In the spirit of holiday togetherness, parents are welcome to join us for all of our classes at no extra cost.
Preschool Holiday Drop-in
AGES: 3 TO 5 ● MONDAY, DECEMBER 12 ● 9:00 AM TO 11:30 AM ● COST: $66 + GST
If you have a preschooler who is looking to get in on the holiday merriment, we’re offering a drop-in option during the last week of the fall term for our Preschool Literature and Art class. We’ll be sharing some of our favourite holiday crafts and stories!
Granny Blake's Toffee Created in the New Lyceum
AGES: 10 AND UP ● THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22 ● 4:00 PM TO 8:00 PM ● COST: $88 + GST
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 more than 150 years ago by Christianne’s great grandmother, Amy Chappel. Amy’s daughter, known as Granny Blake, passed this recipe down and it has been made by their family ever since.
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 to share when the spirit takes us. 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.)
The Night Tree (Same Tree, Different Location)
ALL AGES* ● FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23 ● 10:00 AM TO 4:30 PM ● COST: $145 + GST
A Lyceum institution that we have practiced every year since we opened our doors in 2007! Even though we will create the ornaments in our new home, we will trek to the same tree we decorate every year.
Have you ever counted the number of holiday tree stories? Christianne has 35 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. Using these stories as inspiration, we’ll create our own natural food ornaments - some to share, and some to take home.
We’ll walk to Jericho Park, and hang our ornaments on our own Night Tree, an unexpected gift for Vancouver’s furry and feathered friends. We’ll also sing some carols by candlelight, including one we’ll write ourselves.
Pick up will be at the Jericho East Parking Lot, at the end of Point Grey Road across from the Concession Stand. Click here to see this location on Google Maps.
*This program is open to everyone, but includes a roughly 10 block/20 minute walk that may be a hurdle for some younger children.
Back to Hogwarts Sleepover
AGES: 9 TO 14 ● FRIDAY, JANUARY 6 TO SATURDAY, JANURY 7 ● 4:00 PM TO 10:00 AM ● COST: $145 + GST
We’re stock-pilling our Wideye Potion in anticipation of our Back to Hogwarts Sleepover - the first ever in our new location! We’ll keep the fun going for a night as magical as the famous Yule Ball after the Triwizard Tournament.
We’ll make our own flashlight brooms and play night Quidditch (weather permitting), before settling down to watch as many Harry Potter movies as we can before the witching hour descends upon us. A pizza party banquet will fuel our magical adventures, but please be sure to pack your own chocolate frogs or fizzing whizbees, should the need for a snack arise.
Then, it’s time to curl up and dream of Marauders’ Maps and Invisibility Cloaks until morning, when you’ll help prepare and enjoy a breakfast worthy of the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
Parents can come and fetch their bleary-eyed witch or wizard at 10:00 AM.
Hogwarts students are asked to bring their overnight bags, sleeping bags and lots of pillows (names on items, please), because unfortunately, we don’t own one of those tents you can keep in your purse.
