This month will be a month of guide gifts, because no matter how well you know someone, it can still be difficult to find the right gift for them; and I wanted to offer my assistance. For the socially-conscious friend, I present to you my “Going Green Gift Guide.”
It seemed that many places jumped the gun on the Christmas season…when they tore down the Halloween decorations they immediately put the Christmas regalia up in its place. Now that it is ACTUALLY the Christmas season (December) we have put together a list of our favourite holiday tunes to get you and us in the spirit. You can create your own festive playlist on Spotify!
Happy Holiday –Bing Crosby White Christmas –Bing Crosby I’ll Be Home For Christmas –Perry Como Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas –Rosemary Clooney* Hark! The Herald Angels Sing –Frank Sinatra Auld Lang Syne — The Drifters Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer –Ella Fitzgerald A House With Love In It –Nat King Cole* All I Want For Christmas Is You –Michael Buble Christmas Kisses –Serena Ryder O Come, All Ye Faithful –George Strait *Not available on Spotify
I absolutely LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it!… giving gifts, being surrounded by family and friends…cooking a huge feast… EVERYTHING! The minute December 1st hits I “get my Christmas on.” Even though I am in my 30s I still get an advent calendar. I wanted to do something special for a friend of mine: make a personalized advent calendar. It is so easy! I bought the wooden calendar from Canadian Tire and on each date I put instructions for a Christmas activity to get her in the spirit as well as a little trinket to help her fulfill her Christmas task.
DATE
TASK
GIFT
1
Set up the Christmas tree.
A small ornament for her to add to her tree
2
Take a moment to write your Christmas cards.
A roll of stamps for her so she could send her cards
3
Enjoy a kiss under the mistletoe.
A sprig in for her to hang in her home
4
Have your photo taken with Santa.
A pair of super over the top Christmas earrings for her to wear in the photo
5
Listen to Christmas songs and sing along.
A personally curated list of songs for her to find on Spotify
6
Go Christmas shopping.
A folded up blank “Christmas Shopping List” for her to get organized before braving the crowds at the mall
7
Drop off a donation to the local food bank or toy drive.
$20 to go towards her contribution
8
Buy or make yourself a new Christmas decoration.
The instructions for making a paper angel ornament
9
Write and send a letter to Santa.
A Post-It with Santa’s address on it (in case she forgot the address)
10
Go ice skating.
New festive candy cane laces for her skates
11
Wrap presents while enjoying a bottle of wine.
A new wine glass charm and a roll of tape
12
Have a snowball fight (or throw some snowballs for the puppy).
A pair of new gloves to keep her warm
13
Make and decorate Christmas cookies.
A package of sparkly sprinkles
14
Wear a silly Christmas sweater.
A photo of me wearing my silliest one, so she could enjoy a good laugh
15
Check out the local Christmas lights display.
A glow-in-the-dark Christmas lights necklace for her to wear
16
Enjoy a festive Christmas drink of eggnog or apple cider.
A pouch of apple cider spice mix
17
Build a snowman.
Pieces of “coal” for the snowman’s eyes, mouth & buttons
18
Watch a Christmas movie.
A personally curated list of movies for her to find on Netflix
19
Go to the local Christmas craft fair.
A printed out a schedule of fairs happening in her area
20
Make a snow angel.
A tiny small snow globe that has an angel inside
21
Relax by the fire or watch the “burning log channel” for an hour WITHOUT the distraction of your phone.
A new Christmassy kitchen timer
22
Build a gingerbread house.
The photo of the one we made together from our first Christmas in university
23
Snack on a sweet treat.
An individually wrapped cookie for her to eat
24
Read ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas
The poem printed out as a small scroll and fastened with a red ribbon
25
Relax with a boozy coffee.
A small bottle of Bailey’s for her to add in after brewing
We had a super cold winter last year; the temperatures dipped to -45C and stayed there for days on end and resulted in school/work being cancelled for the week and astronomical heating bills! We holed up at home and tried to stay warm; one way we did that was to enjoy yummy soups and stews. To keep you warm this winter try out a few of the recipes we loved!
1. Easy Slow Cooker White Chicken Chilli Why: I love using my crock pot; and best of all my husband enjoyed this recipe. It made A LOT so I was able to have freezer meals for later.
2. Loaded Baked Potato Soup Why: The brain behind, damndelicious.com describes this soup as, “oh-so-creamy and rich, carb-loaded, cheesy, bacony, comforting, cozy soup”…need I say more?!?!
3. Black Bean Beef Taco Soup Why: The perfect winter time twist on “Taco Tuesday” Plus, there is something super fun about adding toppings to soup in my opinion.
4. Butternut Squash Soup Why: This soup is very easy to make; one pot in fact! It is creamy and for those of you who are dairy free and/or vegan this is a great recipe for you. Plus, I can make use of the squash I grew.
5. Veggie Tortellini Soup Why: This is one of the Pioneer Woman’s “Under 20” recipes; it is hearty and comforting; it reminds me of having tomato and grilled cheese when I was young.
When I started my career I went to a “Beginning Teachers Conference,” the excitement, hope and energy permeated the air. Fresh out of university I was one of those eager beavers ready to embark on my first contract. In one session they told us (and showed us with a fancy little graph) that our first year would be a roller coaster of: anticipation, survival, disillusionment, rejuvenation and reflection. After twelve years of teaching I have found that this cycle is not restricted only to year one; it is every year. This is a career of high HIGHS and low LOWS. It is rewarding, it is exhausting, it is heartbreaking, it is exciting. I regarded my teachers; the ones who I remember vividly, the ones who made a lasting impression on me, as saints. I wanted to be just like them –to make a difference! It has taken over twelve years (and a pandemic) to realize one very important lesson.
I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF AND MY OWN WELL-BEING BEFORE I CAN BE EFFECTIVE. TEACHING IS NOT ABOUT SACRIFICING EVERY FIBRE OF YOUR BEING UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT.
Ultimately, your ‘tank’ needs to be full and constantly replenished before driving along the road of teaching and learning with your students. As teachers, we constantly worry about our students emotional and physical wellbeing but we are reluctant to think about or worry about our own; because we feel guilty. We feel guilty for taking an hour long break from our marking to go and take a Yoga class with a friend or we feel guilty for declining to coach a sports team because we need some extra time at home with our own families. So we acquiesce and give too much. Sometimes I feel like I am doing a crappy job at 100 things but I really want to be able to do an excellent job at 10 things. We have to start practicing self-care. Otherwise, we will burnout out, we will leave a profession we love (minus the bureaucratic BS), we will end up damaging important relationships in our lives, we will sink into depression and we will fall victim to compassion fatigue.
The longer your tank is on empty the longer that disillusionment stage will last. It will never completely go away because we will get frustrated. That is understandable, we work with so many children, parents and policymakers all with different ideas about what education (and your job as a teacher) is and should be. We are forced to reconcile all those ideas on top of all the other tasks we perform both inside and outside of the classroom. If we focus on wellbeing as part of the process of teaching rather than at the end when we are in a negative, broken place we can mitigate the disillusionment.
Typically I prefer a simple, no fuss-no muss make-up routine and I pretty much stick with the same products and palettes from day to night. With the exception of the addition of a bold eyeliner for a fancier look for “date night.”
Since COVID-19 hit and we went into closure; I stopped wearing make-up completely; I just couldn’t be bothered to get all dolled up to go to the kitchen table, regardless of whether or not I had to be on Google Meets.
My skin was in for quite the shock when I went back to work. Like most people, I have to wear a mask all day, and I quickly realized not only would I end up with “maskne” I also ended up with make-up smeared on the inside of mask. The solution: only apply make-up to the parts of my face that are visible.
This sounds really odd and that it may look odd, but no one notices because I literally NEVER remove mask during the day and even if I do, due to physical distancing, no one would ever be able to notice that foundation isn’t applied to my whole face.
You may recall from my post on July, that I had a list of 10 things I endeavour to do or remember to keep in mind when I miss my husband while he is working away. Some of my friends who don’t have spouses that work away have asked me, how we do it? Or how do I stand it? It is simple, first of all …
1. Surround yourself with family This seems self explanatory and I don’t just mean your own family but his as well. His family helps make it seem like he isn’t gone. We both miss him terribly. My husband’s family is truly amazing. They have stepped in to help me with absolutely anything and everything. I absolutely love being apart of their family and can’t thank them enough for all they have done for my husband and I.
2. Communicate as much as possible Text or call or email every morning and every night and of course when you can throughout the day; we say good morning and good night every day. It starts us both off on a good footing, because the first thing I read is his message and it is the last thing I read before bed.
My husband always says that he is there to work, eat, sleep, repeat with little interaction with others; after all shiftmates end up on different sites and contractors come and go. With that kind of isolation at work, communication with your partner back home becomes super important to actively foster. Plus, it has allowed me to get a greater understanding and appreciation of what he does. The interest I show (and what he shows in my work, and I’m sure he has had to Google educational paradigms, curriculum initiatives and teacher acronyms to understand me) helps us feel better about being apart.
3 & 4.Get off the couch & Hobbies And this has definitely been a priority for me as it aligns very closely with my New Years resolutions. I found it easy to fall into a bit of a depression when my husband is gone. Partly, because I miss him like crazy and also because we share the same hobbies so all the things that I derive joy from doing are very much tied to him and I didn’t feel like doing them unless he was around, it felt weird. I will admit, reluctantly that there have been weekends where I have gotten up and then just basically layed on the couch in pajamas till noon (or occasionally sometimes all day), just staring at the television like a zombie. Lately, instead of lazing on the couch and missing out on life, I have been putting in a workout DVD.
It is important to find yourself some hobbies; hobbies that are independent from him. It also helps you get off the couch; it takes your mind off missing him. I knew that I had to really work hard to figure out other things to do on my own and that were nearby otherwise I wouldn’t want to drive the hour into Edmonton.
5. Lists I make a lot of lists of what I need to do when my husband is away. It keeps me motivated and it keeps me distracted. It also helps make sure that I get everything done that I need to, so when he is home we both have fewer chores to do and can maximize the amount of fun we can have together.
6. Clean House In terms of the division of labour in our household, the housework is under my domain. I know that I may get criticized for this, but I prefer it this way. I grew up in a household with a traditional blue/pink – male/female job dynamic. My husband not only works away a week at a time, swinging nights to days but he also runs our business on top of doing innumerable things around the house. He doesn’t demand a spotless house; he understands that occasionally I might let the dishes pile up, the dust accumulate, the grocery shopping is overdue and that I have once again left the laundry in the dryer (especially during report card time). However, after living in camps or in a rented room I can only imagine that coming home to a clean house feels fantastic. Making sure I stay on top of it makes me happier, makes me feel like I am contributing and the less time I spend cleaning when he is home, the more time I can spend with him.
7. Meal Planning If it was up to me and I hadn’t made a resolution to eat better, I would simply just eat crap while my husband is away. Meal planning has allowed me to eat better, and as a result feel better. I like planning out what I will cook for us when he is home.
8. Make Gestures Even though I hate it when he has to leave, I try to do some things to help make it easier on him.
-make meals for him to take to work (I like doing this so he doesn’t have to worry about preparing meals himself and that way he doesn’t have to resort to convenience food) -fold his laundry and help him pack -stock the house with stuff that he likes (make sure he has his favourite coffee and snacks) -wait up for him when he comes home
9. Don’t Cry My husband knows that I cry when he leaves. I try not to pout or cry in front of him though; because it is hard enough on him already. Although I am sure he is touched that I love him that much but I know that he HATES seeing me cry…and he definitely doesn’t want to be the reason that I do.
10. Love Don’t forget that bottom line; he is working his butt off for the family. Out of necessity. Out of love. Don’t forget to make time for love.
I still very much love using the Nike Training Club app on my phone to workout with at home; because they are doable for my fitness level, there is a variety of workouts, the length of each workout fits in nicely with my schedule and best part: the app is free!
However, I wanted to try out more features of the app; you can of course browse for workouts based on muscle group, workout type and equipment. You can also exercise using the numerous collections of workouts for example there are 10 workouts in the “Elevate You Game” collection, 6 workouts in the “Simple Routines For Better Runs” collection, etc. Or, if you answer a few questions about yourself the app will put together a multi-week plan for you.
My new fitness routine is 5 weeks in length and goes a little something like this…
Week #1 Endurance: Shape & Sweat 2.0 (30 min) RECOVERY DAY Endurance: Go, Rest, Repeat (30 min) RECOVERY DAY Endurance: Start Training (46 min) RECOVERY DAY RECOVERY DAY
Week #2 Strength: Roots & Trunk (30 min) Endurance: Start-Up Benchmark (6 min) Mobility: Walk The Plank (30 min) Mobility: Floor To Core (30 min) RECOVERY DAY Endurance: Full Body Ignition (15 min) Strength: Lifted By Lunges (30 min)
Week #3 RECOVERY DAY Endurance: Ab & Butt 2.0 (30 min) Endurance: Glute Toner (18 min) Endurance: Shape & Sweat 2.0 (30 min) RECOVERY DAY Endurance: Go, Rest, Repeat (30 min) Endurance: Start Training (46 min)
Week #4 Strength: Roots & Trunk (30 min) RECOVERY DAY Mobility: Floor To Core (30 min) Endurance: Start-Up Benchmark (6 min) Endurance: Full Body Ignition (15 min) RECOVERY DAY Strength: Lifted By Lunges (30 min)
Week #5 Endurance: Ab & Butt 2.0 (30 min) RECOVERY DAY
