Tomorrow is Flip-Up Friday!

Does anyone remember what that meant back in the grade school days?

A Day At School...

6:00 am get UP!
7:00 leave for school
7:20-8:00 8th grade Swing choir rehearsal...Oh Holy Night, Santa's Swinging Medley high energy and talent
8-8:15 dance practice
8:20-9:10 8th grade 18 boys, 10 girls choir...EASILY DISTRACTED
9:15-10:05 8th grade 20 girls, 9 boys nice bunch...SING OUT! SMILE! thanks, savannah, you look cute too. Eliza, is your voice back yet? your solo is 6 days aways!
10:15-11:00 40 7th graders 12 awesome boys, 15 altos that sing as loud as a whisper...ugh, lol.
Boy walks up, "ms. creek, how are you today? i might not look too happy when i sing. my parents told me last night they are getting divorced, but they will stay in the same house until after the new years and promised they would try to be best friends." they tell us we aren't supposed to hug our students...how the hell do you walk away without a hug? you can't.
11:05-11:55 29 8th grade, TOP students...yes, you can finish making the christmas tree for the concert, YES, you can go figure out the choreography to Santa's Medley, No, you can't sing a solo if you aren't in swing choir, don't forget drop your jaw, raise your eye brows and at least look like you are having fun!
LUNCH BREAK! WHEW! 30 minutes of rest
12:30-1:25 37 8th graders...16 boys that SING AWESOME, excellent sopranos, one alto that sings...lol
Watch me on the S cutoff! let's try that again! No, this is WINTER concert, but it is NOT all Christmas music. Have you gotten your outfit for the concert yet? Swing CHoir boys, do you have your red bow tie???
riiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnng of the bell...
-Shuffle down to the locker room and do "locker room duty"
-hurry and finish the program for the concert...
-figure out the schedule for the concert day rehearsal
-remind SELF to get my dress ready for the concert
-ask the librarian if she has the coupon book marks for the barns and noble fund raising we are doing saturday
-make note to get the list of students caroling at the barnes and noble fund raiser on saturday
-clickedy some emails to my ditty
-get the room cleaned up early
-oops, turn computer back on and email the class lists to all the teachers so they will know who will be missing classes on the concert day rehearsal
-head to doctor for physical therapy on my stressed neck muscles from the whiplash i received from the car accident last May.
-"Is there a reason why your neck muscles are all stressed, inflammed and knotted again?", the doctor inquired.

Well, it was a relatively calm day at school...

The Mas part of Thanks...

We enjoyed our yummy dinner, yes, even Scott did...


And then we got to open our presents presents presents!
The kids each got a huganug bag with junk in it...they had to open that first, lmao.
Ed got some yum yum foods from World Market from Megs!
He also thought it was WAY cool that I got a Game Cube!


The girls patiently wait to open theirs .....


When we finished, Cathy enjoyed the naughty tts.

Here she is with George Dog the Cat.




And my awesome surprise...Ellen stopping in. We've been friends for almost 25 years...so good to spend some quality girlfriend time...coffee...laughing...bitching...laughing...coffee...you know how it goes!
It's been a great Thanksmas Vacation, 5 days off. Now back to work, December 6th my school kids go caroling, and the 9th is our HUGE concert then the 23rd the concert for the school, with a couple more caroling gigs in the middle. I have 170 students. It's a big deal! lol

I'm still...so thankful for my family and friends. They truly provide the true meaning of these holidays, don't they?

Traditions for Dinner

Knowing the day ahead will be packed with cooking, Scott made sure we got started with a good breakfast!
Michelle came over for breakfast and to help with the day. She dressed just perfect for the Thanksmas dinner cooking spree!
First things first! The most important...the pistachio pudding filled jelly roll and frog eye salad. I made the jelly roll with Montana whole wheat while Michelle boiled the acini de pepe pasta for the salad.

After the SECOND attempt, the sponge cake laid on a towel with powdered sugar...

I rolled it and put it in the fridge...next up is momma's pumpkin pie desert!

Vel, bless her heart, made this for their meal too, but she cooked a raw pumpkin whereas I bought the canned, but used my own spices etc...put it in the pan and then...

sprinkle yellow cake mix on top...supposed to use 1/2 a box, but I used the whole thing.
Sprinkle with butter, and I also add cinnamon chips on top...throw it in the oven and it's so yum yum!
Here's a tradition I started for my family, wassail. It's a hot drink of apple cider, lemonade, heated with cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cinnamon sticks, fresh cranberries, oranges and limes. mmmmm I love it, most of all, lol. So as that simmers...

George Dog the Cat is acting as the present GUARD DOG!
Michelle had a heck of a time peeling the eggs for deviled eggs...she was a little pre-occupied with watching the naughty tts.
After the jelly roll cooled, I spread pistachio pudding on it, rolled it up, spread whip cream on the outside and sprinkled crushed nuts on it. Purdy?

Obviously, it was time to get changed and dressed for our amazing dinner! So I did...

And Megs got there not too long after 7...
Michelle got the crescent rolls ready to bake..
The extra stuffing ready to throw in the oven...
We set the table and got ready for an awesome feast! (Notice the Christmas tablecloth I embroidered and the Thanksgiving scarf JoJo cross-stitched)
The traditional wassail, jelly roll, pumpkin pie desert, crescent rolls and stuffing were pretty dang yummy! I made mom's corn casserole, but it was too salty because I added too much cheese :o( The turkey was nice and moist but the best part was all of us filling this table...the room was filled with conversations, laughter and love. That's the tradition I'm MOST thankful for!