Today was the kids' final day of school before winter break, and as usual it has been a mad rush all day. I had to get the kids' teacher presents ready, make food for their class potluck parties, and prepare a craft for Jammy's classmates to do during their party -- all before 10:30am. For once, 3Po's and Jammy's class parties actually did not clash, so I was able to attend both of them, which of course meant that I spent twice the amount of time at school, manning the craft tables at one party, then going off to do the same thing at his brother's party. Every parent at school today said how much they are looking forward to the winter break and the chance for some downtime.
Except I'm not sure how much downtime we'll be enjoying.
We've got 17 days before the kids have to go back to school, and already I count 14 things we absolutely, positively must do:
* Watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical
* Watch The Adventures of Tintin
* Visit Christmas in the Park in San Jose
* Visit Global Winter Wonderland
* Stop by Christmas Tree Lane in Palo Alto
* Stroll along Candy Cane Lane in San Carlos
* Celebrate Kwanzaa at the Bay Area Discovery Museum
* See the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo
* Wrap presents for The Family Giving Tree
* Donate Zhu Zhu pets to a local shelter
* Watch a LOT of English Premier League soccer games
* Take the van in for maintenance
* Go skiing
* Paint the kitchen walls
Our ski trip will take us away for 4 days and the painting project will last at least that long, so we've got more than enough on our plate already. We'll have to schedule multiple activities in a day -- so our break calendar is starting to look like our school calendar.
What? Did I hear someone suggest canceling some activities and planning some rest days? Are you crazy? There are way too many fun things to do! By George, I'm going to give my kids a magical holiday season if it kills me. Or gives me a nervous breakdown.
I can't wait for school to start again so I can get some downtime.
4 comments:
What a great list-gets me motivated to make one of my own! And wow, your kids get out early! My daughter's break starts Dec 23!
annae07@aol.com
The two on your list that I like best:
Wrap presents for The Family Giving Tree
and Celebrate Kwanzaa at the Bay Area Discovery Museum
How fun! So far, we've baked cookies, made a gingerbread girl, saw "Frosty" at home, and went to see "Hugo."
@slehan, Our evening at the Family Giving Tree warehouse was awesome! The kids cannot stop talking about it and they want to help every day! Unfortunately there are no more volunteer spots but we will definitely be doing it again next year.
@Asianmommy What a totally great idea! I completely forgot to add "watching a holiday tv special in front of the tv with a bowl of popcorn" to my list :)
@AmyV do your kids get 1 or 2 weeks break? Ours get 2, so even though we were let out early, they are going back on January 2 -- it will be difficult to adjust to "normal" life so soon after the New Year celebrations!
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