bright sparks
12-18-2014, 09:38 AM
Good Morning Ladies.
Today is my last day of work until January 5th. I wanted to share what I have been up to in the month of December, what my Xmas plans are over my break with the family and hear others stories too.
I had my Xmas Daycare Party last weekend which was a great success. I rented the early years centre out, Santa visited and there were 30 people including the daycare kids and we all enjoyed a Festive buffet. Everyone was happy and I received lot's of compliments. Nothing pleases me more than making others happy, and I love to entertain and feed people :) Santa wasn't particularly popular with the under 2's, not even the candy cane offerings could sway them so the collection of photos I got are pretty entertaining. This was my last Xmas party and it went off with a bang and I couldn't be happier with the outcome and memories it has left me with.
I have a tough group for crafting right now. I do a lot of sensory activities with malleable play and treasure baskets which the group enjoy to no end, but I made an extra effort to help those who are less enthused about sticky fingers so they had some keepsakes to take home. After all these years of offering daycare I realized that Q-Tips for gluing are amazing for little ones! They made reindeers, ornaments, snowmen, snowflakes out of wagon wheel pasta and they each have a 2 foot Xmas tree cut out on the wall and every daycare day they have delved into a choice of decorations that they can choose from and added something to their tree each time. I've done it before and it's a great project to take home to mum and dad.
There is a felt tree in the room that they obsess over :) and I have a huge tote full of plastic baubles, Santa hats and reindeer antlers. December 1st we started with 12 books wrapped up and each day the kids have taken it in turns to open a book at story time and their excitement and enthusiasm is priceless each and every time. I have loved that with them and everyone has managed to stay parked on their rear for each and every story time.
I got a card from a mum yesterday who won't be collecting today, hubby will, so she wanted to give it me then. She gave me a weeks wage inside the card, plus a gift which I think is a book, yes I'm a party pooper trying to guess lol, and she also got gift cards for each of my kids. She asked me ahead of time where to get them for but they are wrapped up so the surprise is still there. I was blown away by the money in the card, but the words mum wrote really touched me. Each year I love those notes and cards that some families give me expressing love and gratitude. Those words mean a lot to me and I always look back at all my cards with a warm heart. I had my eye on something for the house that I couldn't justify buying for myself so now I am excited to be able to buy them.
Today is all about finishing up and tidying up. I have a 2nd job so tomorrow I am working a 12 hour day doing something else and then as soon as I get home it's a quick scoff of pizza for us all and a family tradition to go to our community event of organizing and packing Christmas hampers for those in need in my community. My kids have also been getting allowance this year which includes saving a portion to share at the end of each year. I'll be interested to hear from my kids (11 and 13) where they would like to donate this money. I encourage them to research where their dollars go and find a cause that speaks to them.
This is the first year my daughter doesn't believe in Santa. She is nearly 14 can you believe it lol Her Santa letter is vastly different this year. She only wants books where as previous years her list of suggestions for Santa have been absolutely ridiculous so I am very happy to see she is back in reality and understanding the reality of how hard mum and dad work pulling 60-70 hour weeks each and that she doesn't need all that "stuff" to be happy.
On top of Xmas, my son's birthday is December 24th, 12 this year. We do nothing to do with Xmas prior to 6pm. He is a vegetarian so actually prefers me to cook him a big family vegetarian feast at home versus going out to eat, and this year he wants to go see a movie.
Some things we plan on doing over the break is a visit to Toronto Xmas Market, regular walks, lots of lie ins :), board games and some trips out with the kids. 2nd week I'm off and hubby is back to work I have the gruelling task of organizing my taxes for the last 3 years to give to the accountant...I am my own worst enemy but need to pull my finger out and get it done before it comes back to bite me in the ass.
This break couldn't come soon enough for me and today it seems like my daycare kids are just starting with their next bout of colds due to this ridiculous weather we keep having. So Merry Christmas to them and take your colds home with you lol
I hope everyone else has had a fun filled December at daycare and with their own families and that everyone gets a little bit of R&R at least over the long weekend which I really hope most Canada wide are going to get off.
Best Wishes to everyone and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!
Today is my last day of work until January 5th. I wanted to share what I have been up to in the month of December, what my Xmas plans are over my break with the family and hear others stories too.
I had my Xmas Daycare Party last weekend which was a great success. I rented the early years centre out, Santa visited and there were 30 people including the daycare kids and we all enjoyed a Festive buffet. Everyone was happy and I received lot's of compliments. Nothing pleases me more than making others happy, and I love to entertain and feed people :) Santa wasn't particularly popular with the under 2's, not even the candy cane offerings could sway them so the collection of photos I got are pretty entertaining. This was my last Xmas party and it went off with a bang and I couldn't be happier with the outcome and memories it has left me with.
I have a tough group for crafting right now. I do a lot of sensory activities with malleable play and treasure baskets which the group enjoy to no end, but I made an extra effort to help those who are less enthused about sticky fingers so they had some keepsakes to take home. After all these years of offering daycare I realized that Q-Tips for gluing are amazing for little ones! They made reindeers, ornaments, snowmen, snowflakes out of wagon wheel pasta and they each have a 2 foot Xmas tree cut out on the wall and every daycare day they have delved into a choice of decorations that they can choose from and added something to their tree each time. I've done it before and it's a great project to take home to mum and dad.
There is a felt tree in the room that they obsess over :) and I have a huge tote full of plastic baubles, Santa hats and reindeer antlers. December 1st we started with 12 books wrapped up and each day the kids have taken it in turns to open a book at story time and their excitement and enthusiasm is priceless each and every time. I have loved that with them and everyone has managed to stay parked on their rear for each and every story time.
I got a card from a mum yesterday who won't be collecting today, hubby will, so she wanted to give it me then. She gave me a weeks wage inside the card, plus a gift which I think is a book, yes I'm a party pooper trying to guess lol, and she also got gift cards for each of my kids. She asked me ahead of time where to get them for but they are wrapped up so the surprise is still there. I was blown away by the money in the card, but the words mum wrote really touched me. Each year I love those notes and cards that some families give me expressing love and gratitude. Those words mean a lot to me and I always look back at all my cards with a warm heart. I had my eye on something for the house that I couldn't justify buying for myself so now I am excited to be able to buy them.
Today is all about finishing up and tidying up. I have a 2nd job so tomorrow I am working a 12 hour day doing something else and then as soon as I get home it's a quick scoff of pizza for us all and a family tradition to go to our community event of organizing and packing Christmas hampers for those in need in my community. My kids have also been getting allowance this year which includes saving a portion to share at the end of each year. I'll be interested to hear from my kids (11 and 13) where they would like to donate this money. I encourage them to research where their dollars go and find a cause that speaks to them.
This is the first year my daughter doesn't believe in Santa. She is nearly 14 can you believe it lol Her Santa letter is vastly different this year. She only wants books where as previous years her list of suggestions for Santa have been absolutely ridiculous so I am very happy to see she is back in reality and understanding the reality of how hard mum and dad work pulling 60-70 hour weeks each and that she doesn't need all that "stuff" to be happy.
On top of Xmas, my son's birthday is December 24th, 12 this year. We do nothing to do with Xmas prior to 6pm. He is a vegetarian so actually prefers me to cook him a big family vegetarian feast at home versus going out to eat, and this year he wants to go see a movie.
Some things we plan on doing over the break is a visit to Toronto Xmas Market, regular walks, lots of lie ins :), board games and some trips out with the kids. 2nd week I'm off and hubby is back to work I have the gruelling task of organizing my taxes for the last 3 years to give to the accountant...I am my own worst enemy but need to pull my finger out and get it done before it comes back to bite me in the ass.
This break couldn't come soon enough for me and today it seems like my daycare kids are just starting with their next bout of colds due to this ridiculous weather we keep having. So Merry Christmas to them and take your colds home with you lol
I hope everyone else has had a fun filled December at daycare and with their own families and that everyone gets a little bit of R&R at least over the long weekend which I really hope most Canada wide are going to get off.
Best Wishes to everyone and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!