Fabulous

Tonight I was all set to grab some dinner and head home to wrap Christmas presents, eat, and watch T.V.- a wonderfully lazy Friday night. So, I drove into Fazolli's, rounded the corner to the speaker, and rolled down my window- oh wait, did I say roll down my window- yeah, my window was stuck! I could not get my window down- it was frozen stuck!

I pulled over to a parking spot across from the speaker to try to unfreeze my window. As I get out, I hear, "This is Angela. Welcome to Fazolli's. What can I get for you?" Opps, she must not be able to see that I drove away. Her voice keeps getting louder and louder. Really, don't you think she would figure it out?

Anyhow, while she is hollering, I am chopping away at the little pieces of ice that are on my window, possibly causing my window to refuse to come down. Still no luck. I put the heat on high to try to melt the ice. It is burning hot in my car at this point. Finally, I just decided to let it be and drive home. Yes, I know I could have just gone inside and ordered. But, stubborn me was determined to order my food from my car. :)

Guess when my window finally rolled on down?

Yep, as soon as the wheels of my car hit the bottom of my driveway. Fabulous.

On a much more fabulous note, Sarah was sweet enough to give me a "Your Blog is Fabulous" Award. Thank you!

Here are the rules:

~Pass it along to 5 other fabulous blogs

(I'm not sure who has already gotten this award- so I just randomly picked 5 of my followers- although I love you all!)

1.Because Katie Says So!

2. Mrs. B

3. Serious Shopaholic

4. EJ and Roo Said I Do

5. Newlywed Stilettos

-List your 5 fabulous addictions

1. Starbucks Peppermint Mocha- mmmm, yum!

2. Etsy- looking through all the cool and unique things that people make can become quite adictive. Although I do go into streaks of being addicted and not addicted to Etsy. So as a backup, I will also say that I am addicted to Ice Cream!

3. How I Met Your Mother- love this show! I saw it for the first time on our honeymoon when the cruise played the same two episodes for the entire 12 days- but they were funny everytime. Since then, I've been hooked.

4. Photographer's Blogs- I love looking at their pictures, especially wedding pictures. Really, I'm addicted to blogs in general, but decided to be a bit more descriptive.

5. Target- really, how could you not be addicted to this store!?

Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well. To add the award to your post, simply right-click, save image, then "add image" it in your post as a picture so your winners can save it as well. To add it to your sidebar, add the "picture" gadget. Also, don't forget to let your winners know they won an award from you by emailing them or leaving a comment on their blog.

The Magic of Christmas

Every year I wrap up Christmas books (mine, the library's, my mom's), put a pretty bow on it that I collected from last years gifts (my mom adores putting ribbon and bows on every gift, so this is not a problem) and then put them under my tree in my classroom.

On a side note about my classroom Christmas tree- each year it seems to have gotten an upgrade. The first year it was about 2 feet high and we named it "the scrawny Christmas tree". Last year I got a nice, fake one from Big Lots. And this year....dum, dumdadum- it has a star on the top of it! Next year, I'm hoping for a tree skirt! :)

Back to the books...
Everyday I pick a new name out of the Christmas box (or sometimes twice a day since there are x amount of kids and only x amount of school days before Christmas!) and that person gets to unwrap a present and then read it to the class. This seems like not that big of a deal- right? Um, right. In the past 3 days, I estimate that a child has asked me when I will pick the next name 4 times every hour. I've contemplated whether or not to write the time I will do this on the board, but then again anticipation is half the fun.

When their name is picked, they also get to pick a candy cane from the tree and a silver bell.
This means that there are many decisions to be made if your name is picked. First, what book they will pick. Some have their book already chosen and pray every time that it will still be under the tree. Some have to touch e..v...er...y single book before choosing it. And others change their mind about 4 times! Then, what flavor candy cane to get. Then, what bell to pick. (They are all the EXACT same by the way.) Next, they need to decide if they want to read it or if they want me to read it. And finally, they have to decide what order they are going to call their classmates over to the rug in. Perhaps, I should have made the process a bit easier for them and cut out the choices- but really, what fun would that be?

Now that you've got the picture of this in your head...here are my favorite things about this "activity"

1. Kids' taste in wrapping paper.
While wrapping the books up, my mom and I take bets on which book will go first based on the wrapping paper. We have some pretty ugly paper that we picked up on sale and then some cute papers as well. However, we never have guessed the most popular papers. Last year, the three wisemen paper was beautiful in their eyes. This year it has been a toss up so far- the plaid paper and strange collage of presents have been on the top though.

2. Seeing what kids value.
For some it is the candy cane. For some the control. But for most...the ribbon. Apparently, the ribbon has such value that everyone wants a piece of it! If you are lucky, you might get a tiny piece of the ribbon to tape on top of your desk. One girl even has plans of sewing the ribbon on the hem of her dress.

3. How hard it is to hold the book, read, and show the pictures.
I love it. I love how they finally realize that it is annoying when they all start saying that they can't see the picture when you are trying to read the book to them.

4. How the magic of Christmas shines on kids' faces.
There is no denying it. There is something in the air at school. It is a hyper, excited, and eager something. But, it is also a magical, can't help but smile and sing, wonderful something that the innocence of children bring to Christmas.

At the end of the day, one of the girls came up and panicking said that there was a bell on the tree with no bell in it so it made no sound. Another girl overheard the conversation and said, "Oh no! That means that you don't believe!"

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

We put up our Christmas tree last night! The seasons seemed to switch so fast for me- Thanksgiving one day, Christmas the next. Anyhow, we decided to put up our tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Dan is wishing that we had a real tree, however, I am somehow allergic to real ones and break out around them, so I said no- I know, I'm a scrooge.




And a picture of our stockings over our fireplace- doesn't it just look cozy?



However, it will look even better when our new stockings arrive. I just ordered them tonight with one of our gift cards from our wedding to Pottery Barn. Free shipping and free monogramming and they are on sale! Aren't they perfect?