Ways to get in the Christmas Spirit

1. Have your picture taken in front of mall Christmas decorations.

2. Celebrate St. Nicholas'Day (Dec. 6) and give candy to students who inquire about the sign on your uniform that reads, "Ask me...'What day is today?'"

3. Repeat #2 on Dec. 7 only change your sign to read, "Ask me...'What day was yesterday?'" (kills two birds with one stone...the need to get some Christmas Spirit and the need to reinforce vocabulary: "yesterday", "today", and "tomorrow".)

3. Teach preschoolers to "Run, run, as fast as you can..you can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man." Then have them chase you around the room. Then make Gingerbread men stick puppets and have them chase each other around the room.

4. Bargain for red and green sparkly fabric in Istanbul.

5. Run on the treadmill while exercising to Michael Buble' singing "Ave Maria". This was powerful physically and emotionally...

6. Buy molasses (At least, I think I bought molasses. Is molasses made from grapes because that's what I think I bought?)

7. Buy red and green pencils and green construction paper for student Christmas presents.

8. Read Facebook posts about Christmas and enjoy the photos but be happy to not feel the shopping stress.