Christmas Vacation

What better time and place to re-cap Christmas break than the Anchorage airport at 2:30 in the morning?!  And what better way to do it than through a series of pictures?!

This was on the bathroom door at the Aurora Inn in Nome.  They got the period at the end, but it still makes no sense. 

I'm pretty sure the cookie dough isn't supposed to do that.  But turning the mixer on high seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was requested that we not bake as many cookies as we did last year, so we were forced to restrain ourselves.  All the cookies fit on the plates, except one.  (Those are just the gluten-free cookies.  We also made fudge and non-gluten-free cookies.)

Gingerbread houses have become somewhat of a tradition around our house at Christmas.

Watching It's a Wonderful Life after church on Christmas Eve, Vicki was all smiles after Travis showed up.  Travis wasn't going to be able to make it home for Christmas and Vicki was devastated.  So, I arranged and paid for Travis to fly home, but we "forgot" to tell Vicki.  Operation Christmas Surprise: success!

Santa apparently has a flame-retardant suit (or so we hope), because we got a bit cold on Christmas Eve, and a fire in the wood stove was the result. 

Our matching pajama pants have also become a tradition for Vicki and I.

 Various family members on Christmas Day.  The highlight was probably making Mom cry with the new mixer to replace the falling-apart one that she was settling for. 

Apparently, I'm really bad at this game.  After two hours of playing, this was all I had.  The winner of the game accumulated at least 10 more cards than I did.  All I managed to accumulate was an interesting set of attributes (that I sincerely hope does not describe me, as some say.)


The break was too short, as it always is.  I'm heading back to the village before New Year's, which I've never done before.  It should be an interesting experience. :-)

What is Love?

I came up with an interesting thought about a week ago and it has been tumbling around my brain ever since.  It's puzzling to me, so I thought I'd share. 

I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying lately about what it means to love God.  What is the first and greatest commandment?  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30)  The second commandment?  "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31)  But what does that mean?  What does it look like in practice?  How do I love God with every ounce of my being, love other people, and what will that look like practically in my life?  I came across the answer in 1 John 5:2-3.  "This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands.  This is love for God: to obey His commands."  So, we love people by loving God and obeying His commands.  Okay.  What are God's commands?

Love God and love people.

I love God and love people by obeying God's commands.  God's commands are to love God and love people.  I love God and love people by obeying God's commands.  God's commands are to love God and love people.  It's a never-ending circle that never really answers my questions. 

I know that there are about 3 people who actually read this blog, but I also know that those minds are greater than mine, so if anyone wants to enlighten me, please do. 

Field Trip

Thursday was the date for my annual utterly-void-of-any-educational-value-but-we're-doing-it-anyway field trip to find a Christmas tree for the classroom.  I could make it educational, but that would kill the fun, so we just focus on making memories and finding a nice tree.  I invited the kindergarten class to go with us - the more, the merrier. 

After two years of wind and clouds, I couldn't have picked a better day (considering I picked the date back in October).  Light snow falling with any wind, and temperatures in the 20's.  As soon as we were out the door and past the playground, the fun really started.  Kids were throwing themselves in snowbanks, chasing each other, and rolling around on the road.  I just let them go crazy, figuring they would settle down and start walking pretty soon.  Between the two classes, we had come up with two plastic sleds; pulling those gave the kids something to do.

We headed up the hill towards Baldhead.  It's the only road out of town and is lined with trees.  The school is up on a hill and the road slopes down to meet the creek and then heads up the hill.  Some of the girls decided they wanted to sled down the hill, but it's not a very steep incline, so the boys obliged by pulling them down the hill.

We veered off the main road before we got very far up Baldhead.  We started following a snowmachine trail, carved by people going out to get firewood.  It was fairly decently packed, and lined with trees of all shapes and sizes.  

We found a tree for the first-grade first.  It was a large tree that we cut off about halfway up.  It appeared fairly bushy and not too big.  We put it on one of the sleds, left it by the side of the trail and continued on in search of a tree for the kindergarten.  The kids spotted one that wasn't as bushy as the first one, but was a good size and not too scraggly. 

As you can see, they really are cute little trees (and cute little kids, too!).

We hadn't noticed as we were tree-hunting, but it had really started to snow in earnest.  As we started back, the flakes got big and started coming fast.  I'm not sure who started the trend, but pretty soon, most kids were trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues.  It's difficult to walk, pull a sled, and catch snowflakes all at the same time, but some kids were managing pretty well.

We took our time coming back, due to the snow, trees, and fascination with catching snowflakes.  Even so, some of the littlest ones were dragging by the time we reached the school.  We had only been gone an hour, but they had walked a fair distance.

Wanda (the kindergarten teacher) invited our class to her room for hot chocolate and animal crackers.  It was a bit of an ordeal getting our tree in the stand, but we managed, and then headed next door. 

We came back to our room and strung lights and decorations on our tree.  That's when I noticed that it is definitely not standing straight up but leans a substantially to one side.  It seems fairly sturdy, though, so I'm not going to mess with it.  I love having kids that get along well.  All I had to do was put the decorations out on a table and they decorated without fighting over who got to do what. 

All in all, the kids had fun, we didn't lose anyone, teachers came back with tempers intact, and we found two beautiful trees for our rooms.  I count it as a successful afternoon.

Holiday Bazaar

Every year, the school hosts a holiday bazaar for teachers and anyone else in the community who has something to sell.  As an elementary school teacher, I am obligated to make and sell something with my kids.  I despise this fact.  Why?  Well, my kids can't make anything that is going to turn a profit.  I can only sell so many popsicle picture frames and ornaments.  The best I can do is have the kids put their names on what they make so that parents and grandparents will be guilted into buying what their children made.  It's pretty much a waste of valuable class time during a time of year in which time is precious. 

This year, the science teacher came down and asked if I had any ideas for the bazaar yet.  He said he would have his middle and high schoolers make birdhouses, and then my kids could decorate them.  I jumped at the chance.  A simple project (his kids did all the work) that wouldn't eat up too much time.

Here is the finished product:

 

I gave the kids free rein to do pretty much whatever they wanted, decorating-wise.  The best part came last night at the bazaar.  I've been exhausted all week - the result of one high-stress event after another.  I was really tired last night and not excited about having to spend the entire evening at an event that, for me, is pointless.  I sold all 4 birdhouses within the first 10 minutes and was done.  Yea for grandmas and aunties!  It was fantastic - a project that cost me 45 minutes of class time and 10 minutes of selling, and actually managed to earn a profit.