I am in love with the holiday season. I love the music, the lights, disneyland, cooking, fancy wrapping paper, charlie brown everything, the smells, and the magic. In our home we do the chocolate advent calendar in addition to our manger scene advent calendar. Everyday we do both of them and Noah helps mommy with both calendars. I tend to eat the chocolate:) The other evening we were driving around as a family and out of nowhere Noah said "ohhhh pretty!" when he saw the lights. It was so magical! Seeing Christmas through a child's eyes is amazing! Every time Noah see Santa he says-"Ho, Ho Ho!" It's so funny. Now don't get me wrong...I love me some Jesus, and I love teaching my son about his birthday. Christmas is all about Jesus; which is why Noah will have three gifts under the tree. Jesus received three gifts on his birthday, and so will Noah:)
This year I experienced Christmas in a new way. Now that I am teaching at an elementary school, Christmas is much different. There is a wonder and excitement that starts on December 1st. I was not used to Christmas sing alongs, holiday crafts, and all the Christmas schwag. The teachers at my school wear the sweaters, and tee shirts, fancy Christmas gear. Me, and the other two middle school teachers were the only ones all December not sporting some Christmas gear. *note to self-get to the goodwill and purchase ugly sweaters pronto! I was taken back by the showering of gifts that my students gave me on the last day of school. It was a little uncomfortable-but secretly inside I was jumping up and down like a kid. When I got home and unloaded my bounty Noah kept screaming and jumping up and down. It was hilarious. One of my students baked me beautiful cupcakes. They were super yummy. I have the most amazing students.
One of the holiday traditions at our school is the Barnes and Noble night. The students come dressed in their jammies and the teachers read to them. My students went to the event as elves. Their job was to greet people and help the students find books to read. It was really fun, and I love how my 7th graders really took on the role as elves.
Shannon really got into the holiday spirit by dressing as Santa for the whole school. We had a school assembly where the students sang Christmas carols led by the grade level teachers. We had to sing "let it snow" and our song had the longest musical interludes ever. It felt like we were up there for eternity in front of the 900 students. At any rate-Shannon came out at the end and the students were besides themselves. He then went around to all the kinder classrooms. Each student got to tell one thing that they wanted for Christmas. Some of the responses were hilarious. Of course most kids wanted video games, a puppy, barbies, but some of the requests were so precious-new shoes, a cupcake, or the simple "I want to have a Merry Christmas!" It was such a magical day.
I hope that this holiday season brings you peace, happiness and joy.
