Busy CHRISTmas Holiday!

What a whirlwind Christmas break this has been...my children and I rode with my mom and step-dad down to Sterlington, La. to visit my family who live there (Mom's family who we rarely get to see). That was a really long drive and we stayed with my Uncle, Aunt, and Grandmother for 3 days, then drove home again. WHEW! We arrived home on Christmas Eve Day around 1:00.

My husband went and worked at the early Christmas Eve service, then the kids and I met him at the later Christmas Eve Service at church. It was beautiful and our family carried on our tradition (3rd year) of helping peal the bells at the end of the service...it's wonderful!

We stayed home on Christmas and got up early to see how good Santa was to us all, and also opened our gifts to and from each other. I cooked a big breakfast and then Mom and Woody came over and we shared a big dinner and watched a movie.

Mom and I got up and went shopping at 7:00 a.m. on the 26th (I know...I FELT like I was insane when the clock went off at 6:00) and I was able to finish up the shopping for Dad and that side of the family (sneaky, huh?). We left Rock Hill around 2:30 and went to Anderson to stay with Dad and Carla for a couple of days. We have just returned home from that Christmas celebration.

Dad is having knee replacement surgery on Wednesday morning on his right knee. I will be headed back there as soon as I can on Wednesday to be with him for the remainder of the day and try to be there for his first PT session. I would greatly appreciate your prayers for my dad...knee replacement patients are no longer put to sleep. Dad is very nervous about being awake for this...can you blame him? Anyway, please consider praying for him, his peace of mind, an easy procedure and quick recovery.

How about you all? How have you spent your Christmas break?

It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME.............

Many of you (do I have MANY readers?) may have read my last post where I quickly brought you up to date and explained that on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving my car was broken into and my school issued laptop was stolen. What I didn't explain in that post was that I had to file a claim with my home owners insurance and get reimbursed for the cost of the laptop minus the $500 deductible. To add insult to injury, I was required to pay the $500 deductible to my school in monthly installments, because the liability had to lie somewhere, and the computer was in my possession at the time of the theft.

I have been so upset about this. I know that my school district is only doing the "right" thing...but there are just some times when the "right" thing doesn't feel "right" at all and this is one of those times. I spoke to my principal about it, she called the head of the technology department at the school district, I spoke with the superintendent about it...even my mom got upset and called the district office (without my knowledge) to try to talk to the superintendent.

This morning when I got to school, my principal stuck her head in my room and said "Merry Christmas!" When I turned around I said "Merry Christmas" and smiled like my regular jovial self and wondered why she was doing that. Here is a written version of the conversation after that:
P: You haven't read your email yet, have you?
Me: No ma'am.
P: (Steps into room, HUGE smile on face) You don't have to pay any more money!!!
Me: (SCREAM) THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! WHY? HOW? WHO DO I NEED TO THANK?!!!
P: John (technology head) and Lisa (superintendent) and I have all been so bothered by this the whole time! Lisa went to John yesterday and said "This is really bothering me! It's not right!" and John said "It's bothering me too!!! It's not right! And I'm not going to make her pay that $500."
Me: OH MY GOSH!!! THIS IS THE BEST PLACE TO WORK!!!! YOU HAVE JUST MADE MY WHOLE HOLIDAY! I COULD CRY!!!! I will be sending thank you notes to those people today!!!

Just another example of why I love my job! The people in leadership positions here truly care about us! It is a wonderful place to work!

Merry Christmas!!!

I know it's been way too long since I posted. I'm sorry...please don't be upset with me if you happened to be one of the four people who read my blog. Let's see...quick rundown of the last few months...we had H1N1 run through our school at the same time as a horrible stomach virus. Every computer in my school also had a terrible virus and had to be reimaged. Neither of my own children came down with H1N1, and neither did Greg or I! (Hallelujah!) Thanksgiving was eventful, as I left school on Tuesday, picked up the kids, then went straight to dinner and had my car window broken and my laptop and Sarah's backpack stolen. Now we're caught up to today. (sigh)

We have two weeks left until our "Winter Holiday" (as it's called by the district) which will be a nice two week break. The awesome teachers I work with in 6th grade this year have been awesome to plan with...we met yesterday and decided that we are going to try to get back to teaching with some "fun" stuff. We've gotten into the rut of lecture, practice, homework, lecture, practice, homework, etc. So I'm working a little bit this weekend to find some fun stuff!

I'm sure this post is kinda lame, so to spice it up a little bit, here's a picture of the kids last night while we were decorating the tree/house. Sarah had her Santa hat from about 5 years ago and Caleb was wearing Greg's hat! Funny stuff!