Life has been busy, but I've been making a real effort to let go of the unessentials. I head for school every morning about 6:30 am. I decided early in the school year that I would not work beyond 4 pm, and in fact, most days I have been able to leave a bit earlier. That decision, plus the fact that I live 10 minutes closer to school have given my a much nice block of de-stressing time.
I've also --finally--- after 20+ years of teaching, figured out a few ways to cut down on the amount of grading. I am not grading EVERYTHING the kids do, I'm doing more "process" grades, and I'm using some on-line assessment tools. One awesome tool I've been using this year for the first time is Google docs. Our students were finally given gmail accounts so they can set up a Google drive account. They are doing much of their writing on line, which makes it so easy for me to help them with revision and editing. We've done 2 writing projects on-line so far. Now that we've figured out how teacher/student can share docs, I am going to try some peer-sharing. Could be interesting! It does help that I have the smallest class I've ever had. My partner and I share 28 students. That's the number of students I had in ONE class my first 3 years of teaching! 
A wonderful gift this year is that our school calendar gives us TWO FULL WEEKS of break. Our last day of school was Friday. We don't go back until Jan. 5th. I have never had this amount of time at Christmas. Usually we go until the 23rd, and I spend the 24th covered in flour as I try to get my baking done. I feel like I'm in good shape. I have the Cranberry Almond Biscotti made, a fruit cake made (I started that process 3 weeks ago), and the dough made for shortbread which I plan to bake today. I will also make some ginger crinkles today. That leaves the poundcake to make on Wed. My shopping is done, and all but 3 presents are wrapped. I have to head to the dollar store sometime today or tomorrow to finish off 2 stockings. I've never been this far ahead.
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I am enjoying our new house too. It's much easier to keep ourselves organized, and I am actually staying ahead of the clutter (mostly). It's wonderful having a room dedicated as an office too. I can have piles of paper and on-going bookkeeping projects around, and not all over the kitchen table. And if I need to, all I need to is close the door.
It's also been fun figuring out how to decorate the house. I no longer have a mantel or a big buffet for displays, so I've had to get a bit creative with where I put a few things. And I haven't located a couple of decorations (like my angel collection and my husband's antique Santa light) yet. I hope that pretty soon I can start "talking" about my decisions. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and that 2015 is full of happiness.
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