A Little Christmas Recap

The Christmas season is always so fast and furious.  We spend days/weeks {months, for those of you who don’t procrastinate} preparing and then it’s over just like that.  Kind of sad.  So in protest, I’m keeping my decorations up for a bit longer.  Okay, so it’s more laziness than it is protest, but you get what I’m sayin’. 

The weeks preceding the holiday break at school are always a blur.  It seems like I never have enough time to fit it all in…or share what we do…so things all get lumped into a little recap.  Without further ado, here’s how the weeks prior to Christmas break played out in Room 206.

We spent an entire day traveling around the world to learn more about Christmas traditions around the globe and in our own country.  I have some pretty good little travelers.  This special day is a pretty big deal.  Remember…I teach on an all Kindergarten campus.  There are 18 K classes all divided into pods.  About 3-4 classes per pod.  Anywho, the room moms in each pod spend a day decorating their country…and they do an AMAZING job.  I mean, truly spectacular!  SO magical for the kids…and us, too! 

First up, the kids are given their boarding passes and a little travel bag to collect souvenirs at each stop.

Then they stand in the terminal to board the plane.  Our precious principals play the part of the pilots/flight attendants and our art room is turned into a plane.

   

Then it’s off to our first stop…Australia!

The kids learn a little bit about the country as well as their traditions.  One teacher from each pod is responsible for presenting while the other teachers travel with the kids.

After Australia, the kids flew to China to learn more about their culture and snack on some tasty egg rolls, too.  I also learned that egg rolls don’t really come from China.  Who knew?!

We had a layover after our stop in China which gave us time to enjoy a yummy lunch then it was off to Mexico.

The kids listened to the legend of the Poinsettia and learned more about Christmas in South America.  They also got a little bunuelo to take home.  You can bet that I ate Landon & Grant’s…YUM!!!

Time to stop in our homeland after Mexico.  The good ol’ USA!

 

Santa even stopped by to read a story before our departure. 

OOoooh-la-la!  PARIS was next!

That also happens to be Landon’s precious teacher {I LOVE HER!!!!}  The kids got to snack on bread and cheese during their stay.  I may or may not had my fair share of carbs in France, too :)

I’m sure you can imagine that the natives were a little restless from all the traveling, so we had a recess break and then it was back in the air again.  This time we prepped for our last stop before heading back home…Germany!  Our pod was in charge of Germany and our room moms did such an AMAZING job decorating our country!  It was like a gingerbread house. I wish I would’ve taken more pictures!!!!  Our kids got a parting gift of gingerbread cookies and I might’ve had my fair share of those as well.

Quite the event!  I swear we were jetlagged the rest of the week! 

The rest of the month was just as eventful.

We spent some time making these ornaments for our parents.

SO precious.  And SO easy.  This is NOT my original idea, of course.  You can find the original idea at Little Bit Funky.

We had a fun little Polar Express Day, too.  I left my camera at home…as usual…but managed to snap a pic of our favors before my phone died. You might remember these from last year.  Again, not my original idea, but how cute are those little reindeer hot chocolates?!

 

Since our break, we’ve been going 90 miles a minute with no time to rest. The day after our last day, we headed to the {real} airport to spend Christmas with our family in Indiana.  We BARELY made it on the flight.  I’ve never seen the airport so busy!  We put the cast of Home Alone to shame…and then celebrated with a little photo sesh.

Christmas was perfect.  Lots of family time.  Lots of tradition.  But boy was it COLD!!!  I’ll take the Indiana summers any day, but I could do without the frigid temps of winter!!!

 

Speaking of tradition, this is one of my favorites.  Mr. Spouse’s mom gets us one of these Santas every year.  It’s the one gift I look forward to the very most!  She does such a good job of picking these out.  They always represent something we love or something that’s important to us.  She got this one for us this year because we always host an ugly sweater party.  HA!!!  I love our {not so} little Santa collection!

 

We were pretty sad to say goodbye.  Look at my sweet Landon in the backseat.  He was DEVASTATED.

We were all so emotional that we ended up leaving my carry on at my mother-in-laws.  We didn’t realize my mistake until we were halfway to the airport with no time to turn back.  UGH.  I left behind my computer, iPad, camera & lenses, chargers, and my ID!!!!!!  I was pretty worried I wouldn’t make it on the flight without that ID, but fortunately I had my school ID and my SS card, so TSA let me through…with a little additional security checks and some mild frisking.  Not something I want to do again any time soon!!! 

I finally got my stuff back today {thank you MIL for the overnight delivery!!!} and now I’m back in business.  But for the rest of the night, I’m cozying up on the couch and tuning into Revenge.  Mr. Spouse and I just got Netflix and I started Revenge this afternoon.  I’m already 6 episodes in and I CAN’T GET OFF THE COUCH!!!!!!!  It’s SO good!!!!!!  Any more recommendations?!?!!?