Five for Friday- January 2nd

Today is my last school day off for Christmas break.  I go back to school on Monday the 5th. This vacation went WAY too fast.  We worked a half day on December 23rd which we almost never do. It was fun to see my students and we played SKUNK in my classes, but really I would have preferred to day off.  Christmas Eve came way too fast with still working on December 23rd.  This post is a recap of all things Christmas and NYE and is very photo heavy.  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for this week's Five for Friday.

I always have fun decorating my classroom for the holidays and this year was no exception.  I really enjoyed the days leading up to Christmas break with my students.  We were still in school all day Monday and half day Tuesday, but we made the most of our time together. We have lots of fun together.

Love my stocking.  The other side says "naughty"

I made sure the sign pointed nice toward me and naughty toward the kids. LOL

My homebase students playing a game of telephone for "Fun Friday".  Our motto is "work hard play hard"

They tend to swarm me at the end of the day.

We passed out candy canes to our students on the 23rd.

They were so animated playing SKUNK.

I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my students and their families. Had fun spending lots of gift cards over break.

Sharing a few of my favorite ornaments.  When I was in first grade my teacher hand painted ornaments for everyone in our class.  I still put mine on the tree every year.

This ornament was hand painted by my first grade teacher Miss Wochos.

Vintage.  I believe it's my oldest ornament.

One of my favorite ornaments.  Our first Christmas 1997.

I'm one of those crazy people that actually loves wrapping Christmas presents.  The more ribbons and bows the better!  Last year we hit Target after Christmas and loaded up on wrapping supplies and containers for organization.  What a joy it was to be so organized while wrapping.  I felt like Candy Spelling, minus the entire room devoted to wrapping gifts.

I love how organized I was last year when I packed up my wrapping supplies.

Bows and ribbons everywhere.

Round one of present wrapping.

I've made an observation that the bigger my boys get, the smaller their presents get.  I much prefer wrapping large gifts.

This was round one of presents under the tree.

These were the gifts we opened with our family of five on December 23rd, as our tradition goes.

I got everything I wished for this Christmas and more.  Spending time with my family was the best gift of all, but the jewelry is always a close second!

We gave the boys $40 to buy each of us gifts and this is what they gave me.  They were so proud of their purchase.

Two of my favorite gifts came in little blue boxes.  I got an infinity bracelet and necklace.  Now I have jewelry that matches my favicon!

Cookie trays I assembled at my parents' house on Christmas Eve.

 Santa gift opening Christmas day.

I only took a photo of one of my parents' trees.  These were the gifts for the grandkids.  The adult gifts were under the other tree.

I was very spoiled by my loved ones this Christmas.  Definitely a nice mix of wants and needs.

We spend a quiet evening at home with the boys ringing in the new year.  Some years we go to a party (but only if it's in the neighborhood), but the boys prefer when we are home with them.  Pretty soon they will be off doing their own thing and leaving us behind so I cherish these days we spend together with our family of five.

NYE Prosecco for toasting.  We spend a quiet night at home with the boys and I watched my favorite movie, "The Family Stone"

Looking forward to using my new planner in 2015.

The WI Badgers played in the Outback Bowl on NYD at 11 AM so we invited my parents over to watch the game and have snacks.  We overdid it on the snacks (although I did not take any photos of our big spread) and enjoyed watching the Badgers win.  I think we watched football all day long on New Years Day.

We had lots of snacks for the Badger Outback Bowl.  These are always requested by the boys.

I'm looking forward to everything 2015 has in store for me.  I'm spending this weekend getting myself organized to start off the year with a bang both at home and at school.