Christmas bells are ringing.

I begin my days the same way every day: Wake up, shower, turn Pandora Christmas on, proceed to normal "get ready" actions, drive to Payson, turn on the same Pandora station in my room, and wait for the kids to come and enjoy with me. One of my girls brought in a Christmas CD yesterday, handed it to me and said this, "This is for you since you like Christmas music so much." There is something about Christmas festivities that just really make me happy. :)

Our cute little tree is still a-glowin'


One of my sweet kids brought in this gigantic snowflake she made at home. I'm thinking about having the whole class do this and hanging them up through the room. It makes it feel so Christmas'y without having to break the bank for classroom decor.


See all of those spots on the tree? Those are dimes. Paper dimes. I'm sorry... let me re-phrase, 500 paper dimes. We've been having a fun little thing going on in our class where they "earn" money for another family for Christmas. I told the kids that whatever they earn, I will pay for a child to have a Christmas this year. We had a nice long conversation about how lots of families are struggling and many kids won't have the kind of Christmas that my kids will. I shared some personal stories, they shared some personal stories...it was neat. They are so willing to be open and express the way they're feeling. I love that about their age.

We'll be shopping at the $ Tree to make our money go further. We're pretty excited. Oh and since I am definitely not wrapping 50 presents by myself, we're having a wrapping party after school one day as well. Isn't it so cute that they are so into giving to someone else? I think it's pretty awesome. They really are warming my heart lately. And making me laugh. Really hard.


I hope you're enjoying the holidays as much as I am!