Celebrating the beginning of winter break!

                               So excited to join Saturday Celebrations with Ruth Ayres!

                    It is fun to live my week thinking about what I will celebrate on Saturday!

Another busy week with  many moments of celebration:

One:  We had our next round of Mock Newbery book clubs on Tuesday.  We continue to enjoy the discussions and the parent volunteers who facilitate book groups.  Only five weeks  and two more book clubs until the real winner is announced at the ALA mid-winter meeting.  I'm looking forward to finishing One Came Home soon so that I can move on to the other three Mock Newbery titles remaining in my TBR (to be read) pile.

Two:  Wednesday night was my second annual cookie baking night with friends from school.  My daughter helped me host it last year since she was between rotations.  This year I was on my own, so we modified the menu (no homemade soup), ordered pizza, and sampled some of the goodies followed by playing The King's Crown. We all enjoyed a delightful evening with dear friends and everyone left with a container filled with goodies to share.

Three:  Blake and Stefi arrived home for the holidays on Thursday night.  When I told Stefi that I was hoping for a snow day, she shared the three big ways kids get a snow day on the east coast:  sleep with your pajamas on inside out, flush ice cubes down the toilet, or sleep with a spoon under your pillow.  I'm curious to know the origin of these practices and what other things your region of the country does to ensure a snow day.  

Four:  Thanks to Ava's insistence on Thursday that Friday would be a snow day, or Mr. Harrington's students who did a snow dance, or perhaps the spoon I placed under my pillow; we started Friday with a light dusting of snow and a 2 hour late start.  When the predicted rain failed to arrive on time, we ended up with a snow day on Friday.

Five:  The gift of a snow day allowed me to join Blake and Stefi for shopping, lunch out, and a trip to the grocery store.  I love it when my kids are home!  We'll miss Sara and Will this year, but look forward to enjoying face time and doing a crossword puzzle together.  While our first crossword puzzle time for an absent family member was shared via a cassette tape, this year will be even more fun as we use Face Time allowing everyone to participate in real time.