This week I’m thankful for…

• snow
• slumber parties
• time with the hubby
• making Sweetmilks for breakfast
• the rogue tree that is growing in my backyard
• the grandfather of a kindergarten student who gave all the teachers at my school heavy-duty staplers
• writing winter poetry with my little ones
• the brave faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary
• the fact that all 30 of my little ones are safe and sound

This week I’m thankful for…

• crisp clear days when I can make the short drive to school with the top down and the seat warmers on high.  34 degrees out?  Pffft!  Perfect convertible weather!
• my little one who sang Silent Night to the class.  She didn’t quite get all the words right, but frankly “holy infinity so tender and wild” is beautiful and profound
• coffee with good friends
• Christmas music in the morning
• reading The Velveteen Rabbit to my class
• the melted crayon Christmas tree batiks I made with my class and the parent volunteers who made painting with hot waxy cups of melted crayons with 30 first graders doable
• the fact that I did not set the off the smoke detector when ironing the wax out of the batiks-that’s a Festivus miracle right there!

This week I’m thankful for…

• the little boy selling sprigs of “kissletoe” outside the grocery store
• my fence that stayed standing in the fierce windstorms
• holiday sweater sightings
• Christmas carols
• Salvation Army bell ringers
• peppermint hot cocoa
• spin class on rainy days
• clothes warm from the dryer
• scarves