New Year

We had an enjoyable Christmas time with our family. It was sad when it was time for our oldest and her family to return to Colorado, but I very much know the feeling of wanting to be home with my family and done with vacation. Caitlin is so like her mom at the same age, very much a homebody, not wanting to be away from her home or her things (familiarity)for very long and wanting it to just be mom and dad and brother.

It was hard to get up this morning and go back to work after being home for 2 weeks. We had an inservice day, and the children start back to school tomorrow - so they had an extra day of vacation. I dread the wet drizzly mornings and cold fog when I am not able to take my class outside for some exercise. (It is a good reason to add on an extra couple days of small group time with the kids.) It is suppose to be sunny on Thursday, I hope so, I am really tired of the dreary, foggy days that the central valley is so famous for. We went out to the school today to rearrange the furniture. The district waxes the floors during the break and whoever does it never puts things back. I will need to go in a little earlier then usual tomorrow, I have another 30 minutes of putting things away before I even start to put things out for the days activities..

Have you every watched the show "Extreme makeover: Home Edition"? We have been hearing much about it lately because they are going to do a local family. There are 5 families in the running and we will find out on Thursday who they are and where they live; there are many small farming towns in the county. It is interesting hearing about how they recruit the help they get, as it is all over the local news stations. I must admit that I am a fan of the show, though I seldom sit through the entire show. I will turn it on and do other stuff. I like to watch the beginning and about the family and the end when they are showing the family the house.
My aide last year said that her family and some others nominated someone for the show,but I haven't heard if they were elected as one of the runner ups. If they were to win the makeover, that is really close to us. Most likely I would drive by to watch some of the building. Sorry to say, I don't have the time to volunteer for them, but admire those who are willing to do so.

God Bless ♥

Christmas Break ♥

Today was the last day of school until Jan. 6th of next year. I do an International Feast for my class, because it is such a diverse class. We do a potluck, where different families sign up for the dishes. They usually bring a traditional food from their culture that they use to celebrate the Christmas season with. We get a very wide variety of foods, and they are all so good. It would have been so easy to indulge, but I was very good today.

The children came into class this morning very excited about today. I think when "Santa" came in (real beard and hair) the children were in heaven, or so they thought. He was one of the grandfathers of one of my boys, who goes to the schools and visits the special needs children. He was just great with the children. They sat on his lap and he asked them questions, answered them and gave each child a candy cane. I liked the way he handled their "requests" by telling each one that there are somethings that they need to tell their mom and dad and that he hopes each one will get what they want, but that doesn't always happen. He spoke to them very gently and they accepted his answers. After Santa left we did show and tell. His grandson brought a creche to share and said it was his grandma's and she said he could share it. He also mentioned that it was the "baby Jesus". I thought that was special.
Working in the public school system we are not suppose to talk about Jesus. However, when a child brings something in to share about Jesus, I go for it. I am impressed with how many children in my class know who Jesus is. Once the subject comes up they like to share about their Sunday school class. I just sit there and let them talk, - ah, I do make them take turns talking and sharing about their SS class.

Break used to be called Christmas vacation, now they call it winter break. I don't, to me it is still Christmas break. It is like going into the stores to shop. My son's birthday was 2 days ago. When I went shopping for his gift I had a sales lady ask me if I was holiday shopping. I told her "No,it is for my son's birthday. I don't holiday shop anyway." she said "You don't" my turn, "No, I don't celebrate many holidays, but I do celebrate Christmas and I do Christmas shop." After that the look she gave me tempted me to reach out and lift her chin up to close her mouth. She then said "Oh" and walked away, no other comment. That statement usually gets me more comments, she just seemed a little dumbfounded. I think I may have missed an opportunity to share Christ with her, but I know I left her with something to think about. Really, it was almost comical.


Now I need to finish decorating and finish my Christmas shopping! My feet hurt just thinking about it. Tonight I will finish my cards.

God Bless

Nativity

I got this Fisher Price Nativity last summer and have waited months to set it up. It is also for play when the little ones are here.