Tis the Season!

      Yesterday marked a small milestone for Jamal and I that we want to celebrate. Yesterday was our 6th month anniversary. We woke up yesterday and wished each other a happy 6th month anniversary and reflected on some of our experiences of the last year we've known each other. It's mind boggling how fast time can go by.  We truly  feel blessed that we both are married to each other.  

      Yesterday we watched some of the Christmas videos. They were a really good reminder of the reason for this season and why we should celebrate Christ's birth. 

    After the videos, we thought about how we send birthday cards to people when it's their birthday, and why shouldn't we write a birthday card to Christ? We each took a minute and wrote one which proved to be an excellent reminder of all the things we are thankful for that Christ has given us. Some things we listed were: our families, faith of our parents even amidst trials, meeting each other, and always hearing us and walking beside us. It only took a minute but it was a powerful experience. We are grateful for this Christmas season and the chance we get to be reminded of what Christ has done for us. 

   On a side note, this past week was my last week before school got out for Christmas break. It was a great week. Friday was so much fun. My students performed in a Christmas program and sang, "Christmas, Christmas, time is here" by Alvin and the Chipmunks. They played their ukuleles and sang. After the program, we went back to class and did a secret santa exchange. The students loved it. Finally, we started our Christmas party. Thanks to pinterest, I had found a bunch of fun activities to do. Here's some pictures of things that we did. 

 We made "stained glass" with transparencies, foil, and a coloring book page. Click on this link for the instructions. 

We made airplane ornaments out of life savers, smarties, a rubber band, and a stick of gum.  Click here for the instructions. 

We also made hot chocolate kits. I just had my students put 1 scoop of hot chocolate, 10 marshmallows, and a mini candy cane in a bag and tie it up. 

Of course we had to play Bingo. You would be surprised how many of my students didn't know what holly or poinsettias were.

Last, but not least, we made donut snowmen. These turned out to be the hit. Here's the link to view the instructions. One thing I changed was to have peanut m&m's instead of jawbreakers. Another thing I learned is that you need to find mini donuts with bigger holes in them. The ones I bought didn't have a big hole and when you pushed the items into the hole, it started to crack the donut. (Not that this mattered to my students because they were eaten quickly afterwards :)  ) 

Have a great holiday and a wonderful Christmas!