Happy Holidays!

Dear Reader, I apologize that it has been far past a month since I updated on here. To put it lightly, I have been rather busy. I will be happy to present some of the hilights, because I think that this may describe the insanity of my life right now rather accurately.

1: Work has kept me hopping. With my promotion to lead teacher a little over a month and a half ago, I have discovered that I am scrambling to keep things going on that interest the children in my room. Considering that I am working with a rather ... large age range (kindergarden to just before junior high) it's been requiring extra time outside of work. I've been introducing the children to the joys of science, and there by to the wonder of learning. So far, they've been enjoying the process and are becoming more interested in learning. It makes me tired but happy to see how these little wonders are blossoming before my eyes. The simple chemistry trick of adding a wee bit of baking soda to vinegar makes for a great lesson of volcanoes. Especially if you stopper the bottle containing the reaction. The result of having the top pop off and bubbles foaming over the sides is exactly like what happens in a volcanic eruption.

I have also been doing a spot of tutoring here and there as various kids need help with their homework. The room is beginning to settle down. All of them realize that there truly is a limit to the kinds of trouble they can cause and that I am not allowing anyone to cross it. No matter how much they cry, attempt to be cute, or how bright they are. And they are learning the value of active thought. No explination for their actions finds them very bored when they have been causing trouble, but explinations for why they were causing trouble finds them a little less bored. So... I suppose that work as a lead teacher is going better. It's still rather new, and I'm still getting sent around to different rooms to resolve their crisises. Office politics haven't changed. I don't expect that they will anytime soon, unfortunately.

2: At home, my darling husband and I have been quite busy. First, it was getting things ready for the holidays. Procuring things like last minute gifts, packaging these and other gifts, attempting to get the holiday baking done... well, it's all added up to the rather huge mess that we're now putting away and cleaning up. The answer to the materialistic question; yes, we did get several very nice gifts. I think that we got many more books for us to read this year then we did last year. Of course, only one of mine was actually on my list of books. I'm also surprised by how many Christmas ornaments we recieved as gifts this year. It's rather... amazing. I think we can fill up a small box just with those. We have also been quite busy helping out family.

It seems like everything happens all at once. You've got the craziness of getting everything sorted out for the holidays. There is the craziness of the logistics of attending 3 to 4 holiday parties, at least. And then you add in the madness of familial crisises and large family gatherings. While at the same time, there's the little problems like the now broken television. Or getting the laundry done, dishes done and grocery shopping, theoretically in the same day, while you've been sick in bed and the love of your life has had a miserable day at work. To put it plainly, I think we're both glad that the "holidays" are done with the beginning of the new year.

3: That christmas choir business I was so worried about back in November... it didn't exactly happen. I was sick the night of the concert, having missed the dress rehersal helping my husband cope with the loss of a friend from work, and then I was sick or too insanely busy to get to the last rehersals before Christmas eve Mass. So, I need to get that book of music back to the choir director and aplogize for wasting her time. It is rather embaressing to state that you're looking forward to something from all the way back in the summer only to miss everything going on in the winter. I don't even know how the concert sounded. Christmas eve mass was beautiful, the music was lovely, and it made for one of the brightest parts of the holidays.

Now that I've finished updating you all on the rambling insanity of my life over the past month, I'll post my resolutions for the next year up on the next post. :)