~to keep their hands warm~

A long hot summer and a brief "Indian summer" kind of autumn have left the plains of Texas now.  In their place, winter has decided to move on in.  The furnace runs a lot these past few days to keep our house comfortable and the gas bill is now reflecting it.  Sometimes of the evening, Mike will build a fire in the fireplace to add a bit more warmth to the living room.  It is nice to sit there and watch the fire's glow.  I'm not sure how much heat it actually adds to our home but there is one thing it does add.

~peace~

We did some Christmas shopping for the kids at school over the weekend.  Neither of us were sure what to get and with 19 of them in all, I knew we had to stick with a reasonable budget. We happened upon a great sale on gloves and mittens when we were back home in Hutchinson this past weekend.  There was such an array of them, in all colors imaginable.  They were beautiful!  So we determined that new gloves it would be for them all.  We bought some cocoa packets, candy canes, and small candies to put inside of them.  Mike is good to always help me with things for my students, so putting them together didn't take long at all.  Yesterday I gave them to the kids when they came in to begin our day together.

They were thankful and I was happy.

Seeing children with warm gloves on their hands always makes me feel much better.  When I was their age, our parents provided us with one pair of gloves each year.  If they were misplaced or lost somewhere, we were just plain out of luck.  There would be no more purchased during the cold months of winter.  If we found ourselves without gloves, there was only one solution as far as we were concerned.  Mom would make us get socks out of our drawers and put them on instead.  It has been more than 50 years since that happened, but the memory of it has never left me.  

You know, it wasn't that our parents were mean.  They simply wanted us to take care of our belongings.  With 7 hungry children to feed, there wasn't that kind of extra money to go around.  A kid learned responsibility early on in our house.  Wearing socks on your hands when you got on the school bus was never something that any of us wanted to do.  

I smile in my heart about it now.
I didn't smile about it at the time.

The days before our vacation from school are at hand.  This coming Friday we all will be saying our good-byes to one another as we head out the door for a glorious 2 week break.  The kids need it and the truth of the matter is, we adults need it as well.  I have plenty to do around here to keep me more than busy, yet even in that I know that I will be thinking of them and wondering how they are doing.  

Our little classroom community has come a long way since we first met one another back in the early part of August.  More than 4 months have gone by us now and the remaining days and weeks will pass so quickly.  We have much to do and very little time to do it in but we will make it.  Hey, we always do.  I must admit that my age is starting to tell on me now and after nearly 40 years of doing this, it should be expected. I get tired sometimes and worn out from a day's work at school, but one thing is for certain.

I wouldn't trade my life for any other.
Not even for a million dollars.