Christmas 2014 activities, celebrations and plans

[bright sparks]

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!!

[5 Little Monkeys]

That all sounds wonderful and so much fun!! The Santa/dinner thing is something I would LOVE to do as I am like you, love feeding people! lol. However, my need/want to keep my 2 lives separate makes me hesitant haha.

I was off for 3 weeks (oops, mean I felt off, wasn't off work ) extreme exhaustion, fever, nausea, dizzy etc. and we never did figure out why. My doctor thinks I was just exhausted and it was my body's way of telling me. (Not sure why I had a fever for so long but it's gone now so I'm happy!) I'm still tired but it's back to my normal tiredness now lol. I've started taking a prescription sleeping pill instead of OTC ones and it seems to be helping.

Due to that I was a bit lazy the beginning of this month but in the past week or so, I have got my butt in gear and we did lots! Baked sugar cookies, rolo cookies, fudge, nuts and bolts, cupcakes and brownies to give away, made cinnamon and clay tree ornaments, picture frames, lots of Christmas art and letters to Santa. I also got a new play kitchen, toy shelves with fabric bins and new mats for my daycare. I used to have colourful ones but now it's teal and brown and the kitchen and shelves are darker so it's a lot less "busy"...I LOVE it!!

I sent home their parent gifts from the kids this week....they got nuts and bolts, sugar cookies they decorated, the cinnamon and clay ornaments they painted as well as a picture frame with a picture I took of them with Christmas wrapping paper as the background. They turned out cute! I am sending home one child's gift today as tomorrow is their last day (dad and older sis are sick so just in case she doesn't come tmr!) and than next Monday is PJ day and all my other ones are here. It's the last day for another one for the week so I will send home their gifts then after they open them up here. I only have 2 on Christmas eve and am closing at noon so we will go out somewhere that morning. Either a play place or to my in-laws as they like to visit the kids.

I've been spoiled this year already and have gotten 3 gifts from the parents. One parent gave me a tree ornament with my favourite tea in it and another one gave me a $50 card to the Keg and an awesome owl candle holder (I'm in love with owls). One day I only had one child so we went to visit the mom on mat leave (the one child I had was her son's best dcfriend) and she had a gift for the child and a gift for myself, hand soap and a candle! So nice of her to think of us still

This is my 4th Christmas with the dc and it's the first one where I don't have all kids on paid holiday leave. At first I was kinda disappointed because my other half gets school holidays off so it's been nice to have holidays with him but due to my exhaustion, I'm okay with it now as we aren't leaving town for long this year so I may as well be open and getting full pay. One child is gone for the 2 weeks and a few others are gone a day or two so it won't be too bad. Two 4 day weekends will be nice too!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!

[superfun]

My Christmas activities are quite boring compared to both of yours. On a personal level, life has been extraordinarily busy and stressful, so I think that may have been why I favoured a relaxed daycare schedule. We did the usual stuff, paintings, ornaments, beaded candy cane ornaments, etc. But I didn't really get around to organizing something for the kids to make their parents. All they are taking home for their parents is a cute picture of them in a snowflake frame decorated with foam stickers.
I did host a Christmas party for the families last Saturday, and it was a hit. I had two 2 year olds that didn't like santa, and made their opinions very clear. After the party, they both talk about how great santa is, and how much they like him! I have two new families this year that weren't around for the Christmas party last year. So everyone gets to visit and get to know each other a little bit more. They all enjoy visiting and seeing their children play with their friends.
I got two gifts already from parents. I'm feeling very spoiled. One was a bottle of my favourite wine, favourite chocolates, and cute wine glasses that have snowmen on them. The other was a huge dainty tray with delicious gluten free treats. My youngest daughter can't have gluten, so that was very sweet that she thought of that.
Tomorrow is our end of year party. Everyone is coming in pyjama's, and we'll watch a movie before lunch. I can't decide if the kids are getting their presents in the morning, or when the parents all arrive. I can see it being less hectic if the parents are here. That way the presents won't get lost before they have a chance to take it home.

[bright sparks]

That all sounds wonderful and so much fun!! The Santa/dinner thing is something I would LOVE to do as I am like you, love feeding people! lol. However, my need/want to keep my 2 lives separate makes me hesitant haha.

I was off for 3 weeks....extreme exhaustion, fever, nausea, dizzy etc. and we never did figure out why. My doctor thinks I was just exhausted and it was my body's way of telling me. (Not sure why I had a fever for so long but it's gone now so I'm happy!) I'm still tired but it's back to my normal tiredness now lol. I've started taking a prescription sleeping pill instead of OTC ones and it seems to be helping.

Due to that I was a bit lazy the beginning of this month but in the past week or so, I have got my butt in gear and we did lots! Baked sugar cookies, rolo cookies, fudge, nuts and bolts, cupcakes and brownies to give away, made cinnamon and clay tree ornaments, picture frames, lots of Christmas art and letters to Santa. I also got a new play kitchen, toy shelves with fabric bins and new mats for my daycare. I used to have colourful ones but now it's teal and brown and the kitchen and shelves are darker so it's a lot less "busy"...I LOVE it!!

I sent home their parent gifts from the kids this week....they got nuts and bolts, sugar cookies they decorated, the cinnamon and clay ornaments they painted as well as a picture frame with a picture I took of them with Christmas wrapping paper as the background. They turned out cute! I am sending home one child's gift today as tomorrow is their last day (dad and older sis are sick so just in case she doesn't come tmr!) and than next Monday is PJ day and all my other ones are here. It's the last day for another one for the week so I will send home their gifts then after they open them up here. I only have 2 on Christmas eve and am closing at noon so we will go out somewhere that morning. Either a play place or to my in-laws as they like to visit the kids.

I've been spoiled this year already and have gotten 3 gifts from the parents. One parent gave me a tree ornament with my favourite tea in it and another one gave me a $50 card to the Keg and an awesome owl candle holder (I'm in love with owls). One day I only had one child so we went to visit the mom on mat leave (the one child I had was her son's best dcfriend) and she had a gift for the child and a gift for myself, hand soap and a candle! So nice of her to think of us still

This is my 4th Christmas with the dc and it's the first one where I don't have all kids on paid holiday leave. At first I was kinda disappointed because my other half gets school holidays off so it's been nice to have holidays with him but due to my exhaustion, I'm okay with it now as we aren't leaving town for long this year so I may as well be open and getting full pay. One child is gone for the 2 weeks and a few others are gone a day or two so it won't be too bad. Two 4 day weekends will be nice too!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!

Glad to hear you are on the mend and fingers crossed you continue to get back to your usual self quickly.

Just to confirm, the party was a daycare party not so much a social gathering to make friends with the families. I keep things seperate too aside from one individual and I feel that this party didn't overstep the boundaries. It was a kids party for family members of the Dckids to have a rare opportunity to see the children and grandchildren interact in a group setting. It was held at the Ontario Early Years centre and the focus was wholly on the care and development of the children. I think anyone could retain professionalism by throwing a Xmas party on some scale while keeping their personal life seperate. Each to there own but if what's holding you back is not wanting to socialize with families or have the boundaries crossed, I don't see why that would be an issue if done correctly. I was so happy for the big turn out at my last party!

[bright sparks]

My Christmas activities are quite boring compared to both of yours. On a personal level, life has been extraordinarily busy and stressful, so I think that may have been why I favoured a relaxed daycare schedule. We did the usual stuff, paintings, ornaments, beaded candy cane ornaments, etc. But I didn't really get around to organizing something for the kids to make their parents. All they are taking home for their parents is a cute picture of them in a snowflake frame decorated with foam stickers.
I did host a Christmas party for the families last Saturday, and it was a hit. I had two 2 year olds that didn't like santa, and made their opinions very clear. After the party, they both talk about how great santa is, and how much they like him! I have two new families this year that weren't around for the Christmas party last year. So everyone gets to visit and get to know each other a little bit more. They all enjoy visiting and seeing their children play with their friends.
I got two gifts already from parents. I'm feeling very spoiled. One was a bottle of my favourite wine, favourite chocolates, and cute wine glasses that have snowmen on them. The other was a huge dainty tray with delicious gluten free treats. My youngest daughter can't have gluten, so that was very sweet that she thought of that.
Tomorrow is our end of year party. Everyone is coming in pyjama's, and we'll watch a movie before lunch. I can't decide if the kids are getting their presents in the morning, or when the parents all arrive. I can see it being less hectic if the parents are here. That way the presents won't get lost before they have a chance to take it home.

How kind of them to make a plate up with your daughter in mind!! I usually do lots of crafts but as of late things have been high stress in my household too. I don't make a gift with the kids for their parents. All the crafts and ornaments are the gifts. I wasn't able to do nearly as many crafts and activities as I usually do because I'm constantly dealing with behavioural issue with one child, but they still had lots of fun and that's all that matters

[5 Little Monkeys]

For myself, it depends on the families in care too, I think. I have 1-2 families for sure that sometimes think we have more of a friendship than a business relationship and a party, especially after hours, wouldn't help lol. I don't think it's a bad idea at all, just not something I do right now

The gifts to parents aren't anything fancy superfun! Like BS, just art and baking that we've done. Other than the posed pic, nothing major .....but parents love it! Those are really nice gifts and thoughtful of them!!

BS, I totally hear you on dealing with one child!! I have one who is the busiest child I've seen in 10 years lol and he is so stubborn! It makes doing anything more difficult and chaotic than it needs to be lol. Lots of redirection and time outs lately. He's actually done at the end of the year so the new year should be a little less chaotic haha. I won't have any more "handful"....wil l be weird!