OH WHAT FUN...
The snow outside is beautiful, and I can only imagine how much fun the boys and girls are having.  Looks like it was perfect for building a snowman! Today has been a day of relaxing for me and life has slowed down now that Christmas has passed.  If you were wondering how our Polar Express Day went, here is a recap...
As soon as the boys and girls arrived in class at 8:00, the gifts starting piling up on the back table.  They were all so excited for me to open each one of them, so at 8:30, that is what I did.  We opened gifts for about 30 minutes, and they were so excited to see all of the things the parents had purchased for the class!  We received tons of class supplies and some great toys too.  There were also all kinds of goodies donated for the party that day and extras to use for snack time in January.  Next, our cadet from the high school, Miss Paige, came over and gave the kids their gifts from her.  More excitement!  They played with her gifts for the next thirty minutes or so and enjoyed each others company.  Once we settled down about 9:40, I read them The Polar Express.  They loved it!  It was so neat seeing the story click in their heads as we read each page.  After the reading, they went outside for recess.  When they came back in, we did a few simple Christmas activities before library.  While they were in library, someone made a surprise visit to the classroom and dropped off bells from Santa's sleigh.  When the boys and girls walked in the class after library, their eyes were huge and they were in shock!  They could hear the bells ringing and knew Santa must have dropped them off while they were gone. For the next few hours we continued with our regular routine and enjoyed lunch and recess.  Afterwards, we settled in the floor to watch the movie The Polar Express.  While the boys and girls watched, I made hot chocolate, with marshmallows, of course.  Once the hot chocolate cooled off, they enjoyed their warm drinks, just like they did in the movie.  The kids were still super happy from all of the exciting events from the day.  After the movie, we enjoyed our Christmas party with lots of junk food and drinks, and it was finally time for the kids to open their gifts from me.  They had been begging me all day, but I told them they had to wait until the afternoon.  I passed out the gifts and they had to wait to open them all at the same time.  When they finally got to open their presents, they were all happy to see a few toys and a special book they knew by name--'Twas'the Night Before Christmas. We had read it a few times in class that week and many of them have some of the lines memorized.  I was happy to give that book to them as a gift, and so happy to see the joy on their faces when they recognized it.  Overall, it was my favorite day of the school year so far.  We enjoyed ourselves and shared many laughs.  My heart was so full of love that day.  I am one blessed teacher!!!