The run up to Christmas at a Catholic school is very busy. Not only do all the teachers want to finish up units and projects to get to tests and presentations before the break even when snow days cut into our time, but the season of Advent makes for a very chopped up schedule. We have weekly prayer services for the four weeks of Advent, and a school wide Christmas music pageant that has us rearranging our schedules for extra music practices, tech rehearsal, and dress rehearsal. Somehow my class also always ends up hosting the Mass of the Immaculate Conception (not to be confused with the birth of Christ - the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary's conception and birth without the stain of Original Sin) which occurs during the season of Advent, making it even harder for many people to overcome the aforementioned confusion, and requiring me to adjust my schedule even more to allow time for students to practice their readings and songs for mass.
This year I was able to close out my units or at least come to a reasonable stopping point with a bit of time to spare. My partner teacher worked on a craft with half of the fifth graders at a time while I showed A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and ate popcorn and candy canes with the other half. I think I got the better deal.
Energy was high on the night of the Christmas music pageant, with my students all decked out in their finest clothes. They did much better than I expected at keeping quiet while walking to and from the church for their performance, and the finale (with Silent Night sung in English and German) was beautiful. Videos can be seen via the school's Facebook page.
The last day before the break, I left a little gift on my student's desks before they arrived at school: mugs from the dollar store. The staff sang carols to the parents and students at morning drop off (in sub freezing temperatures) and students were offered cookies and hot chocolate. Fifth graders who had hot chocolate left over when they got to my room, promptly poured them into their new mugs.
My principal knows the kids and teachers are all focused much more on the break than on anything academic on the last day of school for the calendar year. It has become a Saint Luke tradition to have a school wide caroling competition. This is the first year a trophy was awarded, and I am pleased to share that my "house" won! The caroling was followed by three indoor snowball fights, separated by grade levels. Hands down, Saint Luke has the most fun on the last day before a break.
On the home front, this was our first Christmas with four kids and we kept it low key intentionally. We visited my husband's family in Oregon before Christmas and spent Christmas day at home, just the six of us. We almost met our goal of no tears on Christmas, but were foiled when Christmas dinner was served. My son loves the turkey legs, which we love about him, but something we said made him feel like we were mocking him. I liken his reaction to Marty McFly being called "chicken" in the Back to the Future movies. Whenever he perceives mockery directed at him, his reaction is immediate and HUGE. But he eventually regrouped, and we ate off of our fine china and drank out of our crystal glasses. I went to bed feeling incredibly blessed and told my husband that it was probably the best Christmas I have had as an adult.
I opened my school bag this morning, intending to grade all the assignments I didn't get to before the break began. I was able to grade everything I brought home... but since I forgot to bring home the book reports and the writing grade sheets that have student prewrites on the back at school, I still have two assignments left to score, and will need to make a trip to school today. Disappointing, but since I didn't wait until the last couple of days before school starts again, easily recoverable.
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