The Children We Love by Judy Lyden

As I sit here writing this, I pause to look out onto my frozen street. The trucker who lives next door told me at 5:30 this morning that the roads were "the worst scenario." He works in Louisville and drives back and forth. My cat slid across the frozen walkway this morning about 4:30 and made the news! As the schools began to call in this morning about 5:00, I debated whether I could get from my house to school safely. Probably not, so I made the decision about 5:30 to close school. I know it's a hardship for some parents, but is an accident worth it? And if someone was hurt because of a poor judgment, I think we would all be devastated. As age graces the human condition, people like me with a few years don't think invincible anymore, they think hospitals, ambulances, blood and wheelchairs...

Meanwhile, in the back of my mind I was mentally checking off what has been done, what still needs to be done, and what is not going to be done in my absence.

This has been a short Christmas Season because of the way Thanksgiving fell. Sometimes we have three weeks, and sometimes we have four. This is one of the three week seasons between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That means it all has to be accomplished between our return to school after Thanksgiving break and the last day of school before Christmas, which happens to be tomorrow!

So, knowing this, I made sure all the Thanksgiving stuff was put away quickly and Christmas started right on time. The list I have for Christmas includes a lot of extras. I always begin planning the days beginning in the morning. Of course our (Miss Amy and I) mornings begin before 6:00. By six, the coffee is made and the menus are discussed, and then it's time to clean the animals and get the paperwork changed etc. Miss Amy and I fill every second of that hour before the kids come in.

This year, Miss Amy and I decided to make a new cookie every day for the kids for snack. With Amy's good cheer and baking expertise, I added to her project by making post cards with the current recipe for parents to take as a Christmas gift this year. Since most of the cards have been taken, we think it was a good plan.

Decorations are important for the look of the school. This adds a lot of extra work, but it's fun for the kids. Decorations should mostly be children's things, so planning the art projects is a big part of the Christmas planning. But when? How much school time is spent on this, and what will the growth of the children be? If we incorporate art lessons, fine art, and listening skills, will this add to our academic program? It does.

I love the traditional stuff like the hand print reindeer antlers on the reindeer, but I also like non conventional things like the puzzle wreaths and the new Santa I designed with the doily beard. We made gingerbread men out of a new clay, poinsettias out of coffee filters, stars out of Popsicle sticks, and angels out of doilies, and painted Christmas cards. We made some outstanding stockings that Miss Nita and Miss Lisa designed with my addition of the lace pieces nobody could decide what to do with. The children sewed St. Nicholas shoes as well as these stockings and learned a craft along with making some really darling stockings. We made Christmas stars, bears, drawings and in fact, two things every day. I think the children did a remarkable job.

The tree, because of its size, is always a pain to put up. It takes a lot of our brown carpet space, so kids have to squeeze, but the tree is absolutely beautiful, so it's a go. But when? If it goes up too early, will we tire of it? If it goes up too late, will the excitement be lessened? So we pick the halfway point - end of the week ;-}

The race for the Santa Prize begins promptly the day we come back for Thanksgiving. This is an excellent way to squash the "crazies" during the three week wait to Christmas. This paper present on the string encourages children to be helpful, kind, attentive and considerate instead of raucous, mean, pushy and disobedient. It works. As the children gather their kind deeds, teachers must be observant, and rush to put up a paper present on the strings of children who do great things. Every day fifty copies must be made and cut to fill those strings.

Then there are the Advent Boxes for the best student every day. This box is filled with toys and candy and awarded to the child whose behavior was most beautiful and loving the day before. It was a joy to give out these boxes. Miss Nita filled them with lots of trinkets --- all needing to be bought and planned for.

The music is another important part of the Christmas Season. Every day we practice some of the old carols, and some of the new songs children love. This means teaching teaching teaching.

Reading and telling Christmas stories is another part of our Christmas Schedule. All of our teachers have been diligent in reading to our children.

When you're knee deep in messy projects, lunch is still an important part of the day. I go to 7:30 Mass on Sunday, and by 8:30, I'm drinking coffee and making out menus and grocery lists. By 12:30, I'm home from the store, groceries are delivered to school, animals fed and cleaned, and the usual jobs at school done. Every Sunday is a half work day, and it's worth it. We have enjoyed some outstanding meals the kids have really eaten well. Food is an investment in a child's life. We are missing a ginormous pork roast today with all the trimmings.

In addition to the Christmas planning, the weather has turned cold and there is still the coat, mitten and hat problem, the summer clothes issue, and the shoe issues that need to be addressed. We go out every day the wind chill is above 32 degrees. That means children need to wear coats and bring hats and mittens to school every day. They need to wear shoes that don't pop off every thirty seconds. When children walk into school on a 25 degree day wearing a sweatshirt and short sleeves, how do we send that child out to play? Children need hats in addition to coat hoods, and they need gloves that fit. And EVERY child needs to wear long sleeves EVERY day - it's winter.

Planning a Santa party means making sure parents buy a little wooden or unmarked gift for their own child and bring it to school in the distributed brown paper bags given out three weeks ago. Yesterday, we were sixteen gifts delinquent, so after school Miss Amy and I went out and bought some things just in case. It took us two minutes at Target to find wooden $1.00 toys. Children without gifts will be given flutes ;-}

And finally, tomorrow we will be taking the whole school to the Nutcracker Suite at the Victory Theatre. This is a priceless adventure and well worth the effort. Unfortunately, it comes on the Santa Day, but the effort is still worth it. Offering children a 1.5 hour ballet with all the trimmings makes a wonderful final tribute to our Christmas adventure.

The party will begin with the Children singing about 2:30. Parents are invited to sing. Santa will be at school at 3:00 and will distribute parent gifts to every child. The party is our last moment before school break. We will be out of school the week of December 20 - December 24.

As I look at my undecorated home, I ask myself is it all worth the effort, and I can truly say in a loud and enthusiastic voice, YES! Bringing to any child the joys of Christmas through my own experience and the experience of a loving staff makes this job wonderful and something well worth doing. These are experiences the children are not allowed to have in public schools.

I can say with a great deal of pride that we do a marvelous job at the GS filling in for loving parents during the day. Each one of our efforts toward the education of young children is something for parents to feel good about.

So what's next? Winter. There's a film festival, and a new look at science, and Miss Judy will be doing a big geography thing, and we'll be eating out as a group, and then there's the International Feast, and I still want to build the new corn box! This is our R&R time...sheesh.

This is just a little behind the scenes information for parents. We are all glad to do the best job we can for the children in our care.