Christmas break has arrived!

I'm delighted to report that I taught my last preschool class of 2011 today! I got a bunch of sweethugs and Christmas wishes from my students, and though they've been a bit trying as of late, I might actually miss the little buggers. Dennis seemed very reluctant to leave school today, very sad to walk out the door. But we'll be back before we know it. And he had a good send-off. His class, and ONLY his class, had Breakfast with Santa this morning as their party. The music and science teachers stayed in my class for a little while so I could visit at Dennis' class party, and I was tickled to see their reactions when Santa arrived! Dennis was first to volunteer to sit in his lap, and he went back to show him things and tell him various Dennis-isms during the party. The other moms remarked about how much Dennis loved Santa! Some of the kids were afraid, but not mine!

I enjoyed my class party as well and was amazed to find myself student-less at 10:30! Since Dennis wasn't ready to leave, I stayed around and organized my planning folders, putting all my December templates and plans away neatly for next year. And then we said our farewells and left. I'll see all the teachers tomorrow, as we have a staff Christmas luncheon, but this was it for Dennis. He has a fun day with Gran planned for tomorrow.

This morning we caught Neely the Elf sitting amongst the patterns I was cutting out last night (for my kids to make paper angels in class today). I left all my white paper and scissors sitting out, and it must have been too much for him to resist, because there he sat with my scissors in his hands, a beautiful paper snowflake resting on his lap.

It was a long evening. I had a child care shift at the gym and no children came. Those were three very long hours, especially after Dennis left me to go to Taekwondo class and then went home with his daddy. And I learned again how Dennis has inherited my own love of the absurd. David and I were watching a show when Dennis came bounding into the room with a pillowcase on, sack-race style, giggling the whole time. I thought it was hilarious. All David could see was a now-germy pillowcase. I admit that it's good to have a serious person in the house, and every now and then, that person is me, but David is much better at it. I absolutely could not parent (much less teach two-year-olds) without a healthy sense of humor!

Oh, and Dennis snuck his magician cape and magic wand to school today. I wasn't expecting to pick up a magician from the playground, but that's what I did!