Ready or not... Christmas is coming.

This year lets open peace for Christmas.

This year lets be gentler to those around us.

This Christmas lets remember those we lost and realize everyday that another Christmas isn't a guarantee.

This Christmas lets put down some of our new electronics and break out a board game.

This year lets make a vow to treat others the way we would like to be treated. Lets he more gracious. Lets be more forgiving. Lets be more understanding.

This Christmas lets make friends and forget wrong doings lets elementary students.

This year lets be the friend we'd like to have.

This year lets teach our kids that violence is never the answer.

This year lets open some peace.

Whether we are friends IRL or just the blogspere, my wish for you is that the blessings of Christmas last throughout the year.

Be a blessing.

Good can over come evil.

Merry Christmas, my friends.

Let me start this post by saying that there isn't a school employee anywhere that didn't have a difficult time going back to work this week.

That being said, elementary kids are capable of making you focus on all that is good. All that is positive.

Here's what I learned this week.

Making cookies will cheer you up. We have a kindergarten class who is buddies with a third grade class and this week they had a Christmas cookie baking party. They learned things like how to break eggs and read recipes. I had the pleasure of baking them. Some of those little kids never made a cookie before and they saw the pure magic in such a simple thing. It was awesome.

Even the garbage disposal looks pretty at Christmas. With all the fresh fruits and vegetables that we are required to serve we often end up with beautiful trash.

It's possible to have never seen Rudolph. A kindergartener animatedly told our janitor about the movie he was watching in class and how he just couldn't wait to find out tommorrow what happened to the "willy scary snowman".

Where is the chocolate milk? The cafeteria ran out of chocolate milk on Friday which actually resulted in giant tears from some if its customers. This never ceases to amaze me and I believe is a direct result of being shielded from all of life's little disappointments. There was white milk...there was juice... There was even fruit Slushies. But life remains unfair because there is no chocolate milk. Sigh.

Merry thanksgiving! We were showered with tons of holiday greetings on Friday from Happy Holidays to Merry Kissmass. But my favorite was a kindergartener who wished us a Merry Thanksgiving to which we replied have a great Fourth of July!!

The lunch ladies are now on a much deserved holiday break.

Wishing you a Merry Thanksgiving Kissmass and a Happy New Year!!

It has become a sort of tradition around this here blog to post Christmas By the Numbers.  The post is an attempt at a non-boring holiday recap that can be laughed at by my children once they are grown.

Regular readers will recall the when we do Christmas, we DO Christmas.  Months, weeks and days worth of Christmas.  It feels like it never ends and every year I wonder the same thing..."Why do I do this?"

Just when I become convinced that my mostly ungrateful children will soon expect a present from the waitress at the All-You-Can-Eat pancake buffet...it thankfully ends.


It's starts at my Aunt's house.  The gathering used to be much larger, but most of my cousins don't come anymore.  It's still a fun time.  We have a pot luck and we play cheesy holiday games for cheesy holiday prizes, which is always a hoot.

Of course, my kids end up with LOTs of random things.

I must admit, the kids are actually starting to look forward to going and I really have nothing to complain about.

This year we also attended my husband's holiday work party.  It was at a local hotel conference room and they had build-a-bear show up there.  They also had brunch and free Santa pics. 



My mom, her husband and my grandmother came to visit, bringing gifts on the 23rd.  They spent one night at the house.  We went to family church service.  My grandma was amazed by all the "new fangled gizmos"  What was the gizmo, you ask?  A glow stick.

Mama Kat challenged us to post some past Christmas pics.

I have to admit that I had a lot of fun looking back through some of my old scrapbooks.

This one is Big G and Middle G in 2001. It is Middle G's first Christmas.

Um...i think Santa needs to SUPPORT Little G's neck. I'm sure if he was my first child I would have bull rushed Santa. Since Little G was a third I actually paid for this photo.

What a difference a year makes. 2004 Little G went from helpless blob to smiling toddler.

2005. It looks like we may actually be at the North Pole in this picture.

Girls are happy and Little G looks like he's being kidnapped! Is it just me or does Santa look like an ass?

Awe....this is one of my favorites. 2007. Little G is 4, middle G is 6 and oldest is 8.

Everyone looks cute and I am pretty sure THAT is the real Santa.

Seems like I blinked and we went from the above to this.

I guess we're all still cute. Santa looks a little tired though.

In keeping with my Christmas theme, I decided to write a tribute post to Santa. The red-suited-white-beared-bringer-of-the-best-presents-guy we all love.

Dear Santa,

I want to take this opportunity to applaud you as our Christmas hero. It seems that you always bring the best gifts. Never the necessities like clothing and toothpaste. Seems you specialize in those hard to find gifts, usually made in China.

Really, Santa? I thought you would be above outsourcing.

But, I digress. Thanks for eating all the cookies. i mean, what is up with that? Don't you get sick of cookies by your seventh stop?

I bet you wouldn't even notice if I didn't leave you

In all seriousness, we are grateful for your generosity. We are thankful for your thoughtfulness and we are amazed by your timeliness, we still have no idea how you travel around the world in a day.

Santa, thank you for reminding us just how much we should be thankful for and for reminding us what the true meaning of Christmas is.

It's not really about you, afterall.

Safe travels, my friend.

-kisa-

If you stopped over looking for a OUAT review, then you're likely disappointed.  OUAT is on hiatus until January 8th.  My witty reviews of that show will return once the reruns stop. 

In the meantime, since you're hear, let's talk about Christmas.

Do you have a nativity and if you do is baby Jesus on display?  Um...I never really thought about concealing baby Jesus until Christmas Day, but apparently this is a tradition that many people hold dear.  So I'm dying to know, is there a Jesus in your stable right now?

How many gifts does Santa bring to your house?  Santa brings three gifts to each of our children.  Baby Jesus got three gifts from the wise men and that is what Santa brings here.  The rest of the stuff, odds and ends, is from mom and dad.

Does your elf on the shelf move every day?  As I blogged about before my kids think our elf is dead and I am wondering if your elf forgets to move.  If you have one of those over-achieving elves that bakes cookies and reads books, please refrain from commenting.

Do you send out holiday cards?  Seems that each year I get less and less Christmas cards and for some reason it sort of feels like a Facebook unfriend.  Are you still sending or have you stopped long ago?

Do you include a "brag letter" in your cards?  I have been mocked by my family for many years for including what they call a "Jan Letter".  Let me explain.  When we were all much younger my mom's cousin Jan used to include an update of sorts in her card.  Her letter would read "My 14 year old just received her doctorate and has been asked to perform ballet in Australia."  Whether or not that was true, I couldn't say.  My update on the other hand says things like, "Oldest G is almost 13 and plays the clarinet when we force her to."  Totally different.

What is your least favorite Christmas song?  What is your favorite?  Okay I have a lot of Christmas songs that I DO NOT LIKE.  Gasp!  The one I hate the most is The Christmas Shoes.  Seriously?  You need to buy shoes for your dying mother.  As if the song wasn't bad enough they made it into a Lifetime movie.  I also dislike anything sung by Michael Bolton....oh and Ave Maria.

One of my favorite song.  Is The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey by Ed Ames as it reminds me of happy times in my childhood when my mom and dad were still together.  Also, I love any song sung by the muppets as long as they aren't singing with Michael Bolton.

Christmas lasts FOR. EVER. in our house. 

It starts in mid-December and doesn't end until days after the actual holiday.  Just as it gets to the point when I'm certain my kids are going to expect gifts from the waitress at the Eat 'N Park it ends.

I am truly grateful for the amount of family that feel blessed to dote on my children, however, it gets to be quite overwhelming and I often pray that they would just stop.

That being said I thought I'd break it down for you by the numbers.

Number of Christmas celebrations including Christmas Day:  6
Number of presents each of my kids received:  25+
Number of repeat presents:  3
Number of outfits oldest received: 15
Number of batteries needed:  21
Number of fights refereed over winter break:  32
Number of smiles:  833
Number of breakdowns:  27
Number of Excedrin needed:  12
Number of nights spent away from home:  3
Number of presents my dog received: 8 (seriously?)
Number of Red Bulls I drank:  6
Number of times I laughed:  1,498
Number of times I counted my blessings:  over a million

My sporadic posting is definitely a sign that I need to take a small blogging break.  I promise to come back fresh and new after the holidays.

I promise to enlighten you with all of our numerous holiday adventures that usually include up to four Christmases, a sprinkle of Prozac and a large quantity of alcohol.

Of course, Lessons from the Lunch lady will make her triumphant return come January.

Once 2010 is wrapped up and stuffed under the tree, I will return with my 2011 goals and give you an update on that 50,000 word novel I wrote in November.

I'm also hard at work thinking up some other recurring columns that we can toss around in the new year.

Till then my friends--Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I miss you all and promise to virtually visit real soon.

It's time for Friday High Five where you can gather your thoughts into five random things and post.

It's easy.

You can do it.

Today I'm trying to wrap my head around all of the stuff I need to accomplish in the next 20 days! That's right. Christmas is right around the corner and what have you done?

I have minimal shopping completed and not a thing wrapped. Here's what I would like to check off my list for the weekend.

1. Decorate. We have outside lights up but that's it. No tree. No decorations. Nothing. The outside of my house looks festive, the inside of my house looks like February.
2. Write my newsletter. Mock me if you must, but I write a family newsletter. Yep. I'm that person. The one who sends you the cheeky letter every year. Except mine is in the form of a newspaper page and it tells it like it is instead of pretends how rosey things are. This year it will include a Cafeteria Corner section and a tribute to the grandparents I lost this year.
3. Use my Kohl's cash. I have $80 in Kohl's cash that expires on Monday. Hello. We can't let that happen.
4. Finish up Teacher presents: Every year I make Thank You cards for the teachers at Christmas. I figure it works to ways. It says thanks for putting up with my kid on a regular basis and it allows them to thank everyone else for their stupid gifts.
5. Holiday Names: Every year we participate in a Christmas Cheer program that provides gifts for some needy kids in our school district. I always buy for three kids and try to involve my three. Those gifts need to be turned into my school district by the 14th and I'd really like to finish them up.

Let's not even talk about wrapping....

What do you have planned this weekend?