'Tis the Season

'Tis the Season...

Only one more week until winter break! I can't wait to have my yearly reflection time. Each year I like to stay up late after everyone has gone to bed. I turn on the Christmas tree lights, grab a cup of cocoa or tea and stare at the tree and let my thoughts wander over the past year...over family and friends far and near...over my job...it is quiet "ME" time. I started doing this with our tree in high school and have continued the trend into adult hood. I usually spend at least 2 or 3 nights during the season reminiscing...

School: Whose idea was it to give Benchmark tests this week? Though grateful they didn't require us to give them the week before winter break, testing on the Thurs and Fri before the last school week of the year was still rough. My kiddos were very easily distracted. I do have to say that they behaved/tested much better than I expected. However the down time between testing sessions was rough.

Speaking of rough, I have a student who needs prayers/positive thoughts sent his way. He is going through a lot of heavy issues at home. He trusts and confides in me, which I think is great...and then I feel so heartbroken that he doesn't have support at home. I've been praying that his parents will wake up and realize what a great person he is. But mostly, I've been praying that he will realize his own self-worth. How I'd love to see him enter my classroom with his head up and hair brushed out of his eyes, instead of his un-confident demeanor. Poor baby!

Friends: This week I reconnected with an old friend. M-E was literally the first girlfriend I met in Florida. She trained me to take over her position at Child Guidance Center when I got my first post-college job (and she was leaving to go to another agency.) We've been in touch off and on through the years, even working at the same agency for a while when I was still doing social work. The last few years our contact has been mostly via email. This week we met for a girls-night-out dinner. It was great to reconnect and catch up. (M-E---if you're reading, thanks soooo much for being so candid and especially for sharing about your IVF issues!)

More School: We got new laptops at my school this past Wednesday! Hooray! I upgraded from a Lenovo R50 to a Lenovo R500. SOOOOO much faster, I am loving it! Also, the screen is about an inch larger, which is great. What I am super thankful for is that this program has enough capacity to hold the Read180 software on it. I can finally conference with my students and show them immediate scores instead of having to print out reports to discuss. Hooray!

Emma: Em finally sat on Santa's lap for the first time! She has been terrified and we've never had a Santa picture with her before. Sadly, this occurred on her class field trip to the mall, so DH and I didn't get to see it first hand. (Her class went on a field trip to the mall for a Santa visit, lunch, and a train ride.) She was SO proud of herself for being "brave" and posing for a picture this year. She said she told Santa that she wants "Barbies" for Christmas. Barbies have consistently been her gift preference when friends or family have asked her what is on her wish list. (DH did some Santa shopping this week and purchased some neat things including a "Barbie: My House Playset" which includes a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom w/ laundry.)

DH: I just found out that DH is off the 23rd-25th. I'm glad he has more than just the 25th off, as he could use some "downtime." :)

I think that is all the latest...