I love you Justin Bieber!

To sub or not to sub the last days before winter break, that was the question. I decided in the affirmative and I was lucky enough to experience the last days before winter break in two school districts. I ended last week in St. Louis Park with three straight days in a 4th-grade Spanish Immersion School classroom. The class reputation with regard to behavior was not very good but the teacher left excellent plans and I had good support from the other 4th-grade teachers, so things went pretty well. Winter break in St. Louis Park started last Friday and I came home feeling great and ready to break.

Edina, however, unknown to me until I got the call early Monday morning, had classes for three days this week; and so I chose to spend the last three days at one of the Edina Middle Schools teaching Spanish. This teacher left no plans. She is pregnant for the first time, due on December 21st, and I guess had not really prepared herself for the fact that babies are unpredictable. On Monday morning, she woke up, coughed and cracked one of her ribs. The pain incapacitated her. I got the call Monday morning before six, arrived by seven and scrambled to make sense of what was going on in the classroom: not an easy task. Today as the school day and week ended, I learned she had been in labor since 3 am and there was no baby yet. And I thought I had had a rough day!

The day before a school break begins is always the worst day in a classroom and today was no exception. I did my best to stay on academic course, at least for the first four classes, then I gave up, telling the 5th class of the day they could just chill out and relax. I couldn't fight anymore. Suddenly a girl popped a Justin Bieber Christmas CD out of her bag and we found a CD player on a shelf in the back of the room. The middle-schoolers sat in small groups, coloring, talking quietly and singing along with Bieber. It was the best class period of the day. Oh, Justin, if only you had shown up earlier!

Harry and I are having a rather quiet Christmas this year, and after the last two weeks that might be a good thing. Our kids are not coming home, and we will celebrate with my sisters and their families Thursday night at my sister Ardee's house. It will be just the two of us together on Christmas Eve. Harry is going to cook us a duck using a recipe from Julia Child that includes a sausage and apple stuffing. Maybe next year we will have a houseful again and I will make a better choice: like baking cookies the week before Christmas.

We are going to Duluth on Christmas Day to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. I found on line a cute Victorian Bed and Breakfast overlooking the lake, make that a frozen lake. We will have an enclosed sun room off the bedroom with a little free standing fireplace where they will serve our breakfast if we wish. Harry leaves for England arriving for his Mom's 98th birthday on January 10th, while I am going to visit Alexis in NYC the first week of January.

Happy Holidays to all ... and thanks again, Justin for your unexpected but delightful appearance today.