Christmas Party Day

And so begins Christmas break! Both the kids had parties today, one right after the other which was great because Peter and I got to attend both. First Miss E's at the kindergarten and then Mr. T's at the preschool. In the picture Mr. T is decorating a gingerbread house that they made by gluing graham crackers to a milk carton. The kids then got to pick their decorations and put them on with frosting. He strategically organized every side of the house and it looked so cute when he was done.

I am so excited to begin all the Christmas activities with the family and deeply regret signing up for  a 2 day tax class next week. This really is one of my favorite times of the year. Despite the fact that I didn't have much success with scaling back christmas this year it has felt less hectic because I was more organized and on top of things. A good lesson to learn for next year. I think at this point scaling back Christmas is going to take a few years instead of doing it all this year.

Random complaint for the day: Our preschool has a lovely assistant teacher who is from Pakistan. Her family still lives there, she travels there a lot and she is Muslim and celebrates a different holiday this winter (I think it's called Eid ul-Adha). There is also a little girl in Mr. T's class who is Muslim and celebrates this same holiday. To me, this seems like a great teaching opportunity. Not to go in depth about the holiday, as we don't with Christmas since it's a non-religious school, but to talk about how different people celebrate the winter holiday's differently. I think it would also help this little girl feel more included in the holiday preparations. Additionally, I would love it if they did a little unit on Pakistan since we have a teacher who is from there. Alas, nothing. Even at the public kindergarten Miss E goes to they talk about other religions holiday celebrations. Some one told me it has something to do with the preschool being in a church (although we are not affiliated with that church). I just really hate to see such a great learning opportunity be overlooked. But I'm getting over it.

Alrigtht, random complaint done and I'm off to drop the kiddos at Nana and Grandpas for an overnight! They are so excited - tree decorating, cookie eating and Christmas movies.