My grades are completed. I’ll deliver them to the registrar’s office this morning. Hooray! Now I can put away my school bookbag until after the holidays. The next semester begins January 23, and although I’m enjoying the freedom of more time to myself, in a month I’ll be eager to return to campus to meet the new groups of students I’ll be teaching. Some I will have taught before, and I will enjoy meeting with them weekly to hear all about their student teaching experiences. Others I will meet for the first time, some in a course I’ve taught for six years, others in a course that will be new for me. I think I’m addicted to teaching. Or maybe it’s just that I very much enjoy being around young adults. They energize me! The ones I teach are planning to become teachers. What profession could be more important? There is NONE, and by the end of the semester I’ll have convinced my students of that – or they may, perhaps, decide they should look for something else to pursue. It’s one time around, so one should spend as much time doing what one enjoys. Teaching is hard work. It’s a never-ending learning experience! It’s NEVER boring! Just sitting here writing this makes my anticipation of meeting new students in one month and two days even greater! Happy Holidays to all!

During the four Christmasses we spent in Bologna, Italy, we had the pleasure of visiting many churches during Advent to view their Nativity displays. Most scenes were very old, and some were as large as a room with many moving parts, lights, and special effects that had been added through the centuries. (The Naivity in the church of San Petronio has an marble angel carved my Michaelangelo.) The scenes contained many anachronistic pieces – Italian bagpipers from the hills (who still come into the towns to play in the streets over the Christmas season), figures representing characters from the Commedia del’Arte like Harlequin, all sorts of animals not found in Bethlehem…in short, they were a delight to visit each year. My children were very young, and I decided to start collecting pieces for our own Nativity scene. The individual pieces were very inexpensive, and during the four yearrs in Bologna I managed to assemble quite an impressive collection. Each year I set it up on our mantle, and each year I hid the Christ Child until Christmas morning, when he would appear in the manger. Then disaster struck! One Christmas we discovered that we had inadvertently thrown out the well worn box that contained our Nativity scene during a rare but intense binge of cleaning the cellar! I was quite upset, but we decided to begin assembling a Nativity scene all over again. And so, during the past twenty five years our Nativity has grown to something amazing! It fills our mantle and spills onto several levels. Barry made the most wonderful stable, and we have collected all the “traditional” participants – camels, wisemen, shepherd, Mary, Joseph, angels, donkey, etc. BUT we have also added a variety of other pieces, all given lovingly as gifts by friends and family. Among them are a blue hippopotamus from the New York MOMA, a Mexican boatman, several giraffes, Italian bagpipers, a Labarador retriever, American Revolutionary soldiers, and a handcarved English nanny that was mafde by a dear friend who from Wales who believed every baby should have an English nanny. She now stands proudly beside Mary. There is a tiny turtle and several cats, a llama, Clydesdale, and a black sheep carved in China. I have knitted a small bunting for Jesus, who always looks so cold. And He doesn’t appear until Christmas morning. Where does He stay until then? In our liquor cabinet! Also a tradition of many years. The first time I placed him there next to my favorite bottle of Scotch, it was because the liquor cabinet was very close to the fireplace. THen it became a tradition. Now every year my son calls to ask if I’ve put Jesus in the liquor cabinet. That’s an indication to him, I think, that all’s well with the world. I assure you there is no disrespect intended by that little hiding place. On Christmas morning Jesus is lifted into his manger, and from then until the Epiphany on 6 January the wise men get closer and closer to the stable. All is calm. All is well. Blessings abound!

Three classes left, and then my semester is finished. I’ve enjoyed it – great students – challenging classes – an inherited course I’d never taught before. I’m glad I finally decided that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. However, there’s a glitch! In the past, when the semester ended, I turned in my grades and was finished until late in January when the spring semester began. The course that I was teaching did not include a final. Aha! Change is good for the soul! I think! This semester’s classes include a lot of end-of-the term research papers, observations logs, unit plans, and a take home final. Drat! Bad planning on my part. Everything due this week! Except for the fact that I really enjoy reading my students’ work, this is an impediment to my holiday preparations that are always postponed until the day classes end. Then I just immerse myself in decorating the house, baking cookies, wrapping present, NOT eating the cookies I’ve baked, writing out greeting cards, NOT eating the cookies I’ve baked…but this year’s a bit different. The thought of all those papers and projects coming in this week was overwhelming at first, but I think I’ve got myself organized. All will be accomplished – and I WILL NOT eat any of those cookies I’m going to bake. Yesterday I unpacked our ecclectic nativity scene. It fills the mantle. I think I’ll blog about that next Wednesday. That is my favorite Christmas decoration. (the baby Jesus doesn’t appear in the creche until Christmas morning when I take him our of his hiding place in the liquor cabinet!!!) More about THAT next week. Meanwhile – hope you’re feeling better, Jane. Ellen, Christina, Sheila – hugs, love, and all good things to you all – and, of course, that includes you, too, Jane. I’m just not getting too close for the hug until you’re well. Can’t afford to get sick until I’ve graded all those danged papers! Ciao!