The Lee Family: School Christmas Parties

Today the girls both had their class Christmas parties. Thankfully they only overlapped but about 20 minutes, so I was able to enjoy both of them with each girl fully! Olivia's party started at 11:50am and finished at 12:50pm. I actually arrived around 11:30am to help set up, but there were already so many moms there to help so there really wasn't a whole lot to do. The kids were all at lunch and specials, so they arrived right at 11:50am and were so excited to walk into their classroom that was decorated for a Christmas party! Plus, the kids were allowed to wear their pajamas to school for their party, which basically made Olivia's day! Olivia ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and was totally over-excited! All the kids made their way to their seat where a snack plate was set up with pretzels, cheese and grapes. After the kids were finished eating, they got to play Bingo with M&M pieces. Each of the Bingo sheets included Christmas words and we soon realized that each of the sheets were exactly the same! Poppy's mom, Brooke, realized her mistake as soon as the game started, so she told the class that the winner had to say "HO, HO, HO" as loud as possible! The kids all yelled it as loud as possible, which was fantastic! Then, they all ate their M&Ms and got to pick out a toy as a reward. Each kiddo then got to pick out a handmade sugar cookie and were able to decorate it and then eat it. They all turned out really cute and I was impressed with how organized Brooke is! Then the kids split up and played limbo and musical chairs. The kids were all overwhelmingly excited and Olivia and her classroom BFF, Hana, ran around together and acted pretty crazy! Riley A and Cora are the other two kids sitting at the table with Hana and Olivia and they all seem to be really good friends. It's really great to see such sweet girls get along so well and have so much fun. Of course, Olivia loves it and loves the girls at her table so much. Just before the end of the party, Brooke presented Ms. Feaster with a really great Christmas gift that included a fabric Christmas advent tree that included cards, drawings and gift cards from each of her kids. She was so touched and told everyone how much she loves our/her kiddos and how much she looked forward to the break but also how much she would miss her kids. She got emotional over having to say goodbye for over two weeks and thanked everyone for "lending" us her kids. She's such a great teacher and Olivia absolutely adores her. She's told me that Ms. Feaster is her absolutely favorite teacher. When I asked her why Mrs. Schultz isn't her favorite anymore, she explained that Ms. Feaster gives her hugs when she's done a great job or to give her encouragement while Mrs. Schultz generally gave hugs to console her when she was upset or hurt. I thought it was pretty interesting that she made that assessment!

Just as the party was wrapping up, I gave Olivia a big hug and told her I'd see her at pick-up! I headed to Sofia's class party, which was from 12:30 until 2:30. I really wondered how they planned to fill a full 2 hours for a Christmas party, but it soon became clear once I arrived. All of the 5th graders were in the cafeteria eating pizza. Sofia was actually wearing her pajamas to school, because I thought she was allowed to wear them to the Christmas Party, however, it was supposed to be the day after the party. Of course, Sofia didn't care that she was the only one wearing pajamas! Once they finished their pizza, they moved all of the tables and benches out of the way and got ready for the party games. All of the kids were split into groups of 15 kids and there were 7 or 8 stations of games. I worked on the game station where the kids divided into three groups of five and then were each given a gingerbread cookie which they put on their forehead and tried to move to their mouth using just their face muscles. It was so much fun to watch the kids try to get the cookie to their mouths! There were a few kids who could actually do it really easily, but most of them tried for the full minute they were given without success. It was really cute. The other games included picking up candy canes with a single candy cane in their mouth and moving the other candy canes to a bowl. They also included a station where they had to throw marshmallows from one side of a line into a bowl within the minute. There was a Dixie cup pyramid making table and a few other games. It was actually pretty clever and it seemed like the kids really had a great time. The only downside to helping out at the gingerbread station was that I wasn't able to watch Sofia at each station. She said it was fun, but after a few stations, she said she preferred the CES Christmas parties where she could just sit and read! Of course! The party was over and it really was well organized and fun! I followed Ms. Hayes back to her room so I could pick up the Leopard Geckos, which are the class pets. Isla and Luna are absolute favorites of Sofia's and she was so excited to have them over the Christmas break. Sofia was the "class veterinarian" for the first 9 weeks of the school year, so she is used to taking care of them.

The adorable hallway to Ms. Feaster's classroom