Celebrating Each Moment

       As my daughter-in-law said, why does the time go so fast!  Thanks to Ruth Ayres at Discover, Play, Build  I'm sharing my week of good times.

            At my school we don't take the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, but have a half day of celebration, named "Grandpeople's Day". Although some students are absent, on their way to family celebrations far away on this holiday, others have their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and close neighbors come to visit, take a tour of the school, attend an assembly of different classes sharing, and finally visit classrooms. For this visit, I've already had students complete what is called the "Thanksgiving Visitor", where they choose any three people, past or present, to invite to their table. The guests this year ranged from Michelangelo, a grandmother never known, an unknown soldier who died in the Civil War, and on. The guests are always as diverse as the students. We gather in a group to share, and after student sharing, invite the visitors to tell us who they might invite, and why. It's a contemplative exercise, inviting our visitors into the classroom again for this brief time, always satisfying. I celebrate the students who were thoughtful, and the visitors willing to add their own ideas.

           I am fortunate to have my son, daughter-in-law and grandson close enough to drive in for the holiday. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my daughter's house. The grand girls, Ingrid and Imi are always thrilled to be with their older cousin, Carter! Since late Wednesday night, we ate and visited and shopped, they skied, and I had the pleasure of seeing some of their friends still living here. It was a good, good time. 

With Carter, love being with him.

Everyone here, ready for good company and food! Ingrid decorated
the back of each chair with masks or turkeys.

Carter and Nathan, and a family friend, Claire.

          And, the sky every evening was gorgeous. It might be because of the warm weather (in the 70's the past few days), and we celebrated shirt sleeves this time, instead of down coats. I hope you all have a good week back to work this coming week. I feel like it's going to be a whirlwind in the few weeks before winter break!