What I wasn't counting on was defending my dissertation AND getting married within 7 days of each other and, yes, it felt just as crazy as it sounded. I leaned heavily on the lessons of Decembers past and I'm not ashamed to say that I launched into teaching on auto-pilot for the month of December. Teaching on auto-pilot in December 2014 was both good and bad: the good news was that I have some pretty awesome things to do with the students in December that can only ever be done in December, and we absolutely look forward to the big build up of December music room activities; the bad news about teaching on auto-pilot in December 2014 was that I feel like I completely missed being in the moment of December elementary music. The music room is always a magical place, but it seems particularly magical when there are so many holidays that converge in the same month/season. The real gift of December is working in an elementary school and seeing the eyes that are full of wonder and excitement about all that is coming (and those looks come from the students AND the grown ups!).
December 2015 is absolutely one for the record books. My choir had a fantastic concert. I got to connect with my kids. I had enough energy and time to update and dust off my way cool December lessons. And, I feel like I gave AND received from my kids. December was amazing.
Now it's time to take a few weeks off and reflect on where we've been and where I'd like to take us in the new year! Woohoo!