December Currently

Been wanting to do this for a while...I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade! for December's Currently linky!

{Listening} Christmas music is my favorite!  I'm listening to the country Christmas music station now.

{Loving} I love everything about this time of year!  The sights, sounds, and smells...I love it all!

{Thinking} I really need to finish my lesson plans!  I've been working on my lesson plans off and on for most of the day, and here it is 5pm and as I look at my lesson plans, it looks like I did more work 'off' of them than 'on' them.  I also have a big observation coming up this week that I need to prepare for!  In NM, we have a new teacher evaluation system that is pretty intense, very rigorous, and in-depth.  I need to make sure I'm ready!

{Wanting} December 20th to get here quick!  That is our last day of school before the Christmas break, and I am so looking forward to it!  My boys don't know it yet, but we are going to Disneyland over the Christmas break!!

{Needing} I seriously need to get into a workout routine...and fast!  My hubby has recently lost 80 pounds, and I need to get my butt in gear!

{Favorite Tradition} I have so many favorite family traditions for this time of year, I had a hard time choosing just one.  Family traditions are so special to me, and now that I have my own family, it's even more special and important that these traditions are continued.  One of my very favorite traditions started in my childhood and still continues today.  Every year on Christmas Eve, our entire family on my mom's side (including grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins...) get together for a big dinner and gift exchange.  It has always been one of my favorite memories, and is now something that my own children look forward to each year.  Here are some of my other favorite traditions:  Black Friday Shopping - Every Friday after Thanksgiving, my mom, sister and I look forward to waking up at the crack of dawn to go shopping together!  Even if we don't have anything in particular that we are shopping for, it's fun just to be together.  After shopping, we meet the dads and kids for breakfast.  The Giving Tree - each year, each of our boys chooses a tag off of one of those giving trees and helps pick out a special gift for a child or elderly person.  Elf on the Shelf - our elf's name is Arthur and we love him and have so much fun with this new tradition!  Christmas Eve PJ's - each year on Christmas Eve, the boys get to open up one present, which is always a new pair of pajamas to wear for Christmas morning.  12 Books of Christmas - every year I wrap up 12 of our favorite Christmas books (along with a few new ones), and number them from 1 to 12.  For the 12 nights before Christmas, the boys open up one book each night, and we snuggle and read it together at bedtime.  Christmas Ornaments - Each year, we purchase an ornament for each of the boys that somehow symbolizes the past year.  We wrap the ornaments and both boys have their own box where the ornaments are collected.  They don't know about the ornaments yet -- the plan is to present them with their box of ornaments for their wedding or other significant occasion when they are older.