To quote Ferdinand from the movie Babe....

 Yesterday morning I had four students sobbing uncontrollably at different times.  Full on weeping.

One girl's dad came to the Christmas sing, but just as we were finished singing. So she cried.

We were working on a group project (the Santa village using area...I'll never do it again) and the group didn't share one student's vision and went in a different direction. So she cried.

Another group put away their project and one of the girls wasn't finished.  So she cried.  I suggested she go retrieve the project and keep working on it and she did.  She also refused to sit by her group for the rest of the day.

Two boys got in a tussle because one was holding a crayon and the other grabbed the crayon and the crayon broke.  You never saw so much accusation and incrimination.  I said, "They're my crayons!  I don't care if it breaks!  You're fine!"

During writing time we were having a discussion and I was taking answers from the class.  One of the boys didn't get called on so he put his head down on his desk and...cried.

We took a five minute break and I showed them a Lucas the Spider video.  We all needed it.

Alissa had had a lot of crying in the morning too.  She sighed and said, "They have big emotions."

After lunch, I had gathered my strength and had a solid and structured plan, but things were still a bit rough.  One student gave his best pouting face (and you've never seen such a great pouter) when I told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to further discuss the existence of Santa Claus.

"Stop," I said.  "No more. I've asked you to stop and you're being unkind."

After the afternoon performance we had about 15+ minutes until the end of the day.  Parents could come and check their students out right then and there.  I considered offering $5 to any parent who would take their kids early.

What a day.

We had an hour of professional development after school (of course we did) and then I went to the chiropractor.

When I was finally home, I took a bath and changed into my pajamas.

When Adam was heading off to young mens where they were delivering goodies to people, he said, "If you weren't in your pajamas, I would have invited you to come with us."

To borrow a phrase from MarkI said, "That would have been a negativo Stevo."

I was done.

This morning after a good night's sleep and another hot bath (the best way to start the day, especially in December), I feel ready for another day.  I really do love those knuckleheads and I'm going to do my festive best these last two days.