Breaking for Christmas

I cannot even express how happy I am to see Christmas break. Besides the fact that I LOVE CHRISTMAS, I need some naps, I'm tired and I know I can speak for at leeeeeeeeast like 5 other teachers when I say that I was at the end of my rope.

Real quick: that self challenge I put in place for myself actually went alright! I had my moments when I snapped or when I didn't listen, but hey its a work in progress!

Next. What I really wanted to talk about. My kids. WHAT! I know......I never talk about those rascals. :) Anyways. No matter how excited I am to not see them for 2 weeks, I am also sad. I'll miss them. Badly. Not necessarily teaching them and struggling academically with them....but more like experiencing their personalities. Their kindness. Their frustration. Their triumphs. I will miss knowing that they are fed at least twice a day at school. I will miss being able to be really freaking weird and have someone appreciate it. Although, I do know that, like, my sister, she will appreciate the weird..because she is also weird. But its not the same.

Some of my kids would rather be at school than at home. Some of my littles ask to go home with me on the weekends or at night. It breaks my heart and makes me feel good at the same time. If I had my way I would pull a Miss Honey and totally take them home with me and dance around because Trunchbull isn't our principal anymore.

My prayer for my kids is that they stay safe. They stay warm and fed. They experience love and kindness from the people they live with. They laugh and they are cuddled and hugged. I pray that they come back to school well rested and ready for the next few months. I pray that they don't become lonely. Selfishly....I pray they miss me. Because I will miss them....and its no fun missing someone when they don't miss you back.

Positively positive

Its easy to be negative. About everything. All the time. Its easier to complain about things and be a grumpy bear than to actually work to change anything. Its the easier approach, its the lazy approach. Its the approach a lot of us take. Be honest......I am wayyyyyyy guilty of this.

One of my good teacher friends/friend friends, who goes way above and beyond to help out her fellow teachers, decided that she was allowed to say something negative ONLY if she follows it up with a positive! What a great idea! So I started doing it too. You know what, it helps. What a smart woman she is.

Its easy to get sucked into the suck of the day. Like I have had maybe 4 days my whole year that have been COMPLETELY good. However, have my days been total crap buckets just because a few things happen to tank hard? No. Have I let myself think they have been? Yep....WHAT A WASTE OF A DAY! There is a lot I have to be happy and positive about.

Also....just a side note...if you want to complain about how terrible something is and how blah blah blah whatever it sucks, okay but you better be trying to fix/improve it then. Like you're in a sinking boat, and you sit there with water blopping in around you and you complain "man this water is coming in and stuff and it sucks!" and then you just sit there because you would rather do that and be a lazy sloth person then actually have to try and repair the boat? Okay well you deserve to sink....hope you took swim lessons........but you probably didn't because you're too lazy....okay anyways.

Am I saying don't complain? Absolutely not. Complain away, but try not to let it consume you. Try and pick a few positive tid bits out of your day. It will help. Your heart will smile more. Who doesn't love a smiling heart???? (okay maybe except this one because its totally creepy...)

Lets review.

Hows is my challenge to myself going? Oh so sweet of you to ask! Its going well! I still have a few days but so far Ive been doing most of these. Lots of smiles, high fives, laughs, hugs, helping, staying late and Christmas. Loads of Christmas. Have I been the most positive person on the planet this week? Heck no. Lets get some of the frustrations out first, I'm going to list these out real quick and then forget about them.

-One of my special friends has been doing really well, like really well. But this week and last he has gone back to the kid he was at the start of the year, its incredibly disheartening and frustrating.
-Talking, constant talking....over me...over each other...talking
-I might have gotten angry a few times...frustrated maybe...maybe some tears....maybe


AND NOW IM DONE! Not thinking about those things anymore.

The positives of the week.

Our elf came! It was so fun. Our awesome Vice Principal Steele busted into our room with a present that was wrapped in Christmas paper! AND IT WAS COLD! That could only mean 1 thing, it totally came from the North Pole. Mrs. Steele told us how an elf named Ffffffffranklin had busted through her ceiling and gave her this present for us. We opened it and it was our Elf on the Shelf book! The kids loved it. The next day our elf showed up! We named him Belle, we are a very progressive class and name boy elves girl names.....If anyone has some cute ideas for our elf, I would love to hear them!

My kids really like old school Christmas music. Like Perry Como, Bing Crosby and Harry Connick Jr. Thank goodness they do because if they didn't, poor things would be miserable for the next 2 weeks.....I would have listened to it anyways.

Overall, my kids were actually pretty good this week, there were bumps in our road, but no mountains on our adventure. (I just came up with that little saying and Im really proud of it.....Im making it into a poster) (jk im not...) (but I should)

10 more days. They WILL be great.