The Twelve Days of Christmas – the Freshman Celebrations

Victor and I had discussed Christmas in advance. Both of us agree that hosting Christmas parties at our houses is not a good idea. Neither one of us like our homes to be invaded, no matter how sweet and cute and adorable the kids are.

Because this year’s sophomores were last year’s freshmen they were expecting a party, so I hosted parties for them. This year’s freshmen know nothing about last year’s parties so I saw this as a way of breaking the tradition before it became an actual tradition. Instead of inviting them to my home for a full scale party I offered refreshments in class. It just so happened their last class was December 26^th. That was the day they were to have their final exam. My plan was to serve them snacks that I bought yesterday with Susan while they took their final exam.

Getting everything to class would prove to be a challenge. My classes are back to back with only 20 minutes between them. No time to run back to my house between classes. Carrying only what I needed to serve one group was out of the question. The two large tins of cookies and 8 two-liter bottles of beverage all fit in my largest shopping bag but toting it would require more strength than I felt I had at that point. I was running on fumes after all the celebration I’ve already enjoyed and by now desperately longed for a day off.

I loaded the bag onto my laptop rollaround case and wheeled it to class. Perfect solution!

These kids are always so grateful for any little thing beyond teaching. They eagerly snatched their share of snacks from the large tin of cookies I had bought and enjoyed milk or juice while answering the question: What are your thoughts on your university experience so far? That was their final exam.

Note that I did not go to the internet café this morning because I had to be in class. However, I did have to make amends for not answering the text messages, many of which came from these kids. I told them that my phone battery died, and then I went to the show last night. We talked about that for a few minutes because many of them actually performed last night.