Ahh . . . Christmas

Hello all my faithful readers,

I have been shamed into writing a new blog (thanks Shinbone #4). All that's really on my mind right now is Christmas. I'm in charge of the Christmas program at school, I'm somewhat responsible for the Christmas concert at the church, I'm playing piano for the Christmas choir, we're singing Christmas songs in my music classes, I've already had a very fun (albeit small) Christmas party, and I'm teaching Christmas songs to one of my piano students. Hopefully I'm not all Christmas-ed out by the time it gets here. At least I'm still REALLY looking forward to my Augustana Christmas party coming up soon.

Here's my Christmas dilemma. We do a "Secret Santa" gift exchange at work, where you pick someone else's name and buy them one $5 gift a week for 3-4 weeks. I have been a willing participant for the past 3 years. However, this year, I did not feel like I wanted to be a part of it. Partly because I'm just plain getting too much Christmas at school, and part of it because it seems that it's just about trying to figure out who has who and trying to keep it a secret. It really is quite stressful to try and keep it a secret. And I have enough stress right now. Ok, so I'll stop rambling, and tell you the dilemma. There's actually about 5 of us who didn't participate this year (leaving about 10), and the ones who ARE participating are harassing us and making us feel guilty about it (which is really just making me feel even more like being a hum-bug). What do you think (of their actions or of mine)?

Merry Christmas!

Trick or Treat!

Well, this was a busy week, with Halloween and all. I had fun, but I am so exhasted now (being Friday after work). I dressed up as a worker. I tried to find a picture of my costume, but it had kids in it, so I couldn't post it, and I thought to crop it, but I couldn't figure out how to do it without altering the original, and like I said, I'm too tired to try to figure it out. C'est la vie. But anyhow, we had a costume parade and all the kids had a great time. I asked for people to bring in snacks, and we ended up with SO much stuff. Mostly cakes and treats and goodie bags, so that by the end of the day, there was just no point in trying to get anything accomplished. Then the next day, there were people from Alberta Learning here, and that was stressful, although it wasn't really a major deal. At this point, I just want to go home, sit in the hot tub and relax. I need a massage. Know anyone good . . . Dags? :) Well, I don't really have anything profound or comical to say, but I thought that I would update my blog so that you wouldn't give up on me! Have a great weekend! By the way, these pumpkins were carved by one of my kids and her brothers. Pretty cool!