It’s Christmas Break!

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{on Thursday I wore The Grinch and my ‘Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins shirt with elf slippers on Friday for our read-in}
I finished out the last day of school before Christmas yesterday. There are developmental shifts observed among students when a teacher changes grade levels, but sometimes it’s surprising how mature one group is when compared to another. As a third and fourth grade teacher, I didn’t have to change much as the holidays approached. Second graders are a totally different animal though. I had a super fun week, everything went well, but the energy level present in my room was quite intense. I worked hard all week. Hard! The last kid left, I prepped a few things for January’s return and then I was quite happy to settle into a happy-hour-drinking-stool for the next two hours, letting the balm of hummus and sangria soothe away the insanity of the previous week. Such a satisfying moment.
Speaking of, I’m so happy with my new coworkers. There was a work party par-tay last week the blew the roof off of any party I’ve been to since I was barely 21. I sang Like a Virgin and Desire off-key with, first, the wife of one of my new friends then the friend himself, and cozied up, sardine-style, on the sofa with the rest of them. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked with some amazing people at my previous schools, and each staff seems to fit me better than the previous one, but I feel like I’ve walked into family here. Like all the parts of me fit in pretty well. Or I know how to be now. I don’t care, it feels good. The love is pretty profound and I’m so happy. It makes teaching seem like a hobby I get to do every day instead of a job I have to go to.
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I was a pretty good kid this week. I ran on the treadmill tree times and managed to only eat 2-3 pieces of fudge per day. Don’t worry- I dialed it back on the veggies to make up for it! Kidding, of course. I’m still eating my veggies, I’ve just added about half a cup of sugar per day into my diet. Everything just tastes sooooo good! And there’s so much of it all! I doubled a batch of fudge thinking there would be a larger sized Pyrex’s worth, and I ended up needing a huge Costco cookie sheet instead. We had more than enough to give a lot away and plenty left over to eat ourselves. I wish I were the type of person who would squirt it all down with dish soap and throw it away, but I just can’t. It feels too wasteful.
I was reading Katie from Runs For Cookies today and she expressed the same issue I’m having. Last year I had no problem saying no to myself. I treated myself, yes, but felt like I limited it better. It seems like now I have no limits and always say yes. I need to get that back in control.
I have to say that I know I’m better than I was. I know I’m better because I gained 10 pounds last year. The scale is not shifting this year. I think what I want is to be better than before, be better than I am today. That would be a tremendous gift to myself. I hate losing that gain in January! I’m seeing a lot of temptation, it gets overwhelming and I react to thought crime. That said, I fully admit that I’m enjoying my share of fudge. Unfortunately, I’m a very good baker and candy maker.
I decided that for now, I just have to move a lot every day to counteract the pudge that is certainly trying it’s best to come back. I’m making a valiant effort. I ran today on the treadmill and solicited a promise for a night walk to look at Christmas lights in our neighborhood from my family. I will probably take some more steps on the treadmill, too. That’s my plan for break: run for 20 minutes every day and get 10,000 steps. I can do that.
Cheers for holiday!

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