Twas One Week Before Christmas...

Where on earth did December go? I cannot believe that exactly one week from today, we will be unwrapping presents, sippin' on cocoa, and celebrating the miracle of Christmas! I loved the beautiful Christmas hymns that we sang in church today and get so excited by the hustle and bustle of people shopping for presents! Kyle and I officially completed our Christmas shopping yesterday (except for 1 gift that I have to wait to get in Wilmington), and I set up shop on the floor in front of the tree to wrap them all while Kyle cooked us a little pre-Christmas feast. Definitely my kind of Saturday. We ended the night by finally watching Crazy, Stupid Love which I had been dying to see...so adorable! And, hello, Ryan Gosling's abs...so sexayyy!

Round 1 of the Christmas wrapping...luckily we have lots of gift cards left!

Must have pillow to sit on!

Chicken w/ Goat Cheese, Asparagus, Sweet Potatoes, and Wheat Bread...yum yum!

I only have 2 days left of teaching, and I have to say, despite the kiddos being Cah-Razy, it is my favorite time of year to teach! My lovies are buzzing with excitement, humming carols, and they totally have Christmas  on the brain. In my guided reading group, we were talking about how before we had compasses people had to use the stars to help guide them. I asked, "What was the importance of the North Star?" and one of my students responded, "Because that's how they found Jesus!" with the biggest little grin on his face...presh! We had Polar Express day on Friday, and we rearranged the desks to look like a train and gave them tickets to "board." I talked like a train conductor all day long, and it was just too fun! I seriously think some of them really believed we were actually going to the North Pole! On Tuesday we're doing a math budgeting activity where they have to buy all of the supplies to make their gingerbread houses. This helps them with adding and subtracting money and is one of my favorite things we do all year! I'll definitely make sure to post pics!

Another thing I just love about December is Secret Santas, and I'm super pumped to be apart of 2 this year...one at school, which we just wrapped up on Friday, and one in the bloggy world, that Ashley, Crystal, and Emily are hosting! I got my card from my Secret Santa last week, and I thinkkkkkk I may know who it is because I might have just started reading her blog, but I'm not going to say until I know for sure! I will say that she's studying to be a teacher, which I love for obvious reasons! I'm shipping out my present to mine this week! More about that later!

Super cute card from my Holly Jolly Swap secret santa!

And, lastly, I have to give a huge thank-you to Crystal from Coffee at Nordstrom! She hosted 12 Days of giveaways, and I was the lucky winner of this adorable knit headband from Miss Knit Nat's Etsy shop. It is SO cute and perfect for keeping ears warm on a cold winter day sans hat hair! I cannot wait to wear it! I was super excited to get it in the mail along with her adorable Christmas card...and she even threw in a cute Ashley Brooke Designs holiday shopping notepad! How sweet is she!?

Happy 1 week to Christmas, y'all!