Oh Christmas Tree

(picture includes bonus: lunch crumbs)

I haven't been able to write, but I've been able to complete the picture end of this deal. The days are getting shorter and before I know it, it's time for you to go to bed and it's almost time for me to go to bed and what has resulted is a mess of hastily scribbled pictures with little to no words to go along with them.

I'm not sure where time is getting off to these days, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the holidays! the baking! the shopping! And your mother's inability to let a little playground sand sit on the tile floor for one more day (I never thought I would miss the wood chips from your last school). I didn't used to be a neat freak, did you know that? If you were to ask your grandma about my cleaning habits as a teenager, she would tell you that there were days we couldn't open my bathroom door because the clothes were piled up so high behind it. Oh, I was a messy little thing. Now I'm a tidy, not-so-little thing. Trade-offs.

(I'm not calling myself fat. Promise. You've been worried about my perceived self-image lately and though I find it incredibly endearing [you're not fat mommy, so don't even think about saying it!], it says a lot about what I'm teaching you about self esteem. So I'm working on that, k?)

You've done wonderfully at your new school, but were pretty bummed when they postponed the holiday program until spring so that some of the younger kinders have more time to practice their listening and direction following skills. That's what your principal said, but I think your music teacher must have a low tolerance for five and six year olds because I have never heard of the cancellation of a holiday program for bad behavior, ESPECIALLY at this age. You are such a good little listener and rule follower and you just got your first lesson on bad apples and bunches. It's too bad it happened while you were still adjusting and looking for a way to bond with your class.

On the same day that we got the cancellation notice, they tucked a field trip form into your folder; maybe it was a consolation prize. You are going across the street to the high school this week to decorate cookies with the culinary class, but you are NOT looking forward to this because there will be too many girls at the high school (your words). I told you those girls won't chase you, they are more likely to pinch your cute little cheeks, but you aren't buying it.