Christmas Vacation Begins

Happy Christmas Vacation to me!

Yesterday was a half-day with a similar format as Thanksgiving; Chapel (where we did the Advent Wreath), then hanging out as a class. I brought in Krispy Kreme and put Princess Bride on as background noise. We played a bunch of games (Connect 4, Chess and Uno). I played Uno with a few of the boys and they ended up making me draw 16 cards at one point. They were very impressed with themselves. Punks.

We had our staff party yesterday after school got out. Just dinner (roast beast, mashed potatos and other yums) and a gift exchange (the one where you steal). What was really fun was that we had kids with us. Three of the Koreans who work with us have kids who attend the school (2 in Kindergarten, one in grade 2 and one in grade 6). I spent most of the time with the two girls on my lap. Dain thinks I'm a chair (she was one of my kids last year) and her little sister does everything big sister does. By most of the time I include lunch. It was hard to eat with a 6th grader on my lap, thankfully Gloria sat in a real chair. Dain also insisted on sharing a plate with me (quite literally; we doubled up on all the food).

The gift exchange was fun too, the kids would give out the presents and help open them. My gift contribution was a blanket, movie (Cassablanca) and 2 bags of popcorn. The Velascos and Johnsons kept stealing it from eachother, with the Johnsons ending up with it. I ended up with 2 pair of fuzzy socks, lipstick and face moisturizer. Made me happy! The most creative gift wrapping was Merilee's; she got nine random things from her apartment (empty matchbox, q-tips etc.) and wrapped and numbered them with notes on all that said "Aren't you glad your gift is not...". Number ten was the real gift of a Starbucks travel mug.

I left my camera at the Johnsons so I'll put pics up later.