Christmas Excitement - Bring it on!

Today I am enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon with my kids. I got to soak in the tub, Alex is enjoying his Xbox he got from his grandparents about a month ago for Christmas, and Skylar is watching a tv show on her iPad while she makes some kind of glittery craft. We're going to head to Girl Scouts in a bit, and I keep running through my mind what to buy for my children for Christmas on my limited budget. Getting antsy to go shopping, but I have to wait to payday.

I started to write on my Facebook that I am enjoying my Sunday before beginning 3 days of craziness at school before Winter Break. Then I decided, in my effort to be more positive, to try to put a different spin on things. Here goes...

Will it be crazy? ABSOLUTELY! Will the kids listen? PROBABLY NOT. Will they be full of chatter and excitement for the break and Christmas? FOR SURE. And that's it, right there. These students are kids. In their bodies, both little kid and grown up sized, are little kids at heart. They are excited because they are children gearing up for what is often the biggest, most exciting day of the year. Whether they get 2 presents or 20, they are still super excited. The beautiful lights on houses, trees being decorated, stockings hung, presents starting to pile under their trees. It's a lot for a kid to take in, and then focus on school! Heck, I sometimes find myself consumed with thoughts of what I need to decorate next when I get home!

So, now I am on my quest to figure out how to make this week not about me yelling at them about how their education is important and they need to sit down, be quiet, and take this opportunity to learn something, but to capitalize on their excitement, have some fun with them, and make the most of the joy of the season.

Don't get me wrong, we do have work to do, thanks to a broken copier and projector screen (modern technology is not always as great as it seems). We will get it done, but we will blend it it with fun. The kids have been asking for Christmas music. They've actually been asking me to make Christmas cards for their loved ones for over a week. And, maybe we'll play an "educational" movie while we work. The Grinch is educational, right? Clearly, calculating the speed of his sled going down the hill based on the slope and weight of the sled is mathematics, right?