Bah humbug

While you are reading this I am probably at school. Yes, school on the Monday before Christmas. If you can't tell I'm a little bitter about this one. Most schools in the state got out on Friday. Some of those schools only had to go half a day on Friday. Why are we going on Monday and Tuesday this week AFTER exams? Who knows? I just know I have to go. I understand that many people who aren't in education have to go to work all the way up till Christmas day and even some people have to work then. I used to work at a doctor's office and actually had to work everyday around Christmas except for Christmas Eve & Christmas day, and although I would've rather stayed at home, I was ok with it because it was my job and it didn't involve me dealing with tons of middle school students who were very excited about Christmas break. If you teach, you know that when you come back from Thanksgiving break the kids get wilder and wilder the closer you get to Christmas. Just last week I had to send 5 kids to the office! I never send kids to the office. Last year I probably sent 3 to the office for the whole year. It's just frustrating because I teach a semester course and we took our exams on Friday so I have nothing left to do for my class. Grades are done and they know that. I'm basically babysitting for two days.

So what do I do to make myself cheer up about having to stay in Tuscaloosa away from my family & friends in Muscle Shoals? I take my Christmas decorations down. Yeah, not something to help me cheer up (immediately). I decided to take my decorations down before we left for the break so when I come home with dirty laundry and gifts I won't have to add "taking down decorations" to the list of things to do. I can just relax for a bit before I have to go back to school, which is the same time as the people who got out on Friday. My living room looks so empty without our tree. You know how sad it feels the day after Christmas? Like magic is gone?? (maybe it's just me). Well, I kind of feel like that now. Cory said it will be like Christmas two times back to back because when I go home there will be decorations everywhere and I can be excited for Christmas again. He's really good to cheer me up. :)

Whew! Well if you're still reading this after all my complaining I will end on a happy note.

If you didn't know, this semester there was a mix up in scheduling my classes. I got an 8th grade class with only three people in it. Yes, three people! And not just people, but DUDES! I teach home ec and boys are not usually the ones you picture in my class. (by the way, I have thirty-two 8th graders next semester so I didn't get off too easy) Anyway, I was really hesitant about having three guys in one class. Would they actually care about the stuff I taught? Would they be good at sewing and cooking? Turns out they were great! (with the exception of one who didn't try hard and really disliked me and made a death threat towards me....if you've talked with me, you know the story and it's quite humorous----we've patched things up though)

I really enjoyed having them in there and they really tried hard at everything. I taught them how to ice a cake and showed them some decorating tricks and thought it would be a fun thing to do on Friday. I didn't expect their cakes to turn out so well. They did so much better than the high school kids I taught while student teaching. Check out their cakes. It makes my heart happy.

This one is from the little boy who didn't ever put much effort into things. He tried really hard and I am so proud of him.
I honestly thought they wouldn't be able to ice the cake without getting crumbs everywhere, but they did a great job. I didn't even help them!

While I'm bragging on my fellas, here's their pajama pants they made in October. The other guy was at his peak of hating me at this point and didn't want his picture taken. I cropped their heads off since I don't have their permission to put their pics on the Internet.
To see my students succeed and enjoy seeing me for one period a day makes it worth it to do what I do....even though I really don't want to do it this week ;) I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.