Party Every Day!

Sorry for my lack of posting, but I really literally have barely had a minute to sit down and do anything the past two weeks. I'm in the middle of exams for my students and am also trying to invite all the students over for a Christmas party. On top of that, I have my part-time L'Oreal job and am trying to shop for and make Christmas presents. Busy, busy . . . but a good kind of busy. I'm sure everyone is feeling that way about now.

I always love inviting the students over to my house to share Christmas with them. But of course, if I'm going to invite one class or one group then I really can't get away with not inviting them all. With more than 150 students and an apartment that, at most, can hold about 25 students at one time, that equals six student parties. Katie also has about that many students and has been having them all over too. We've had a party at our house or had other friends over almost every day, sometimes twice a day. I figured out that between my students, and Katie's students, and all of our friends we will have had about 300 people in and out of our house in the last two weeks!!!

For my student parties we've done a gift exchange. The students have usually never done something like that before and have a great time with it. Here's my favorite gift this year. It's a "you zi" (in English it's a "pomelo" - a large fruit that's like a cross between a grapefruit and an orange, they're really common here in the fall and winter). The student who brought this drew a face on it and then stuck two lollipops in it to make ears! So funny. And it was the biggest and heaviest present which made all the students curious.

The students always tell me how much they enjoy coming over and I'm glad that they can see our Christmas tree and get to do something fun. I also get to share the true Christmas story with them while they're over.