Length of Christmas Break

Sue wrote:
"Claire Petersky" wrote in message

The schools here this year have a *very* short break. DD and
DS were in school all day on Friday the 23rd (!!) and they
return on Wednesday the 3rd.


Ugh, I only wish my kids would have stayed in school until the 23rd. As it
was, they went until the 21st and really there is no reason whatsoever that
they need all that time off.

I don't know about the kids, but *I* need the break
from their schooling! Mine got off the 22nd and have to go
back the 3rd, and I really want the full two week break we
usually get. I'm not ready for the rat race to start again.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
I don't know about the kids, but *I* need the break
from their schooling! Mine got off the 22nd and have to go
back the 3rd, and I really want the full two week break we
usually get. I'm not ready for the rat race to start again.

I needed that extra time to get ready for Christmas ;o)

Since the girls are older now, I am not so involved in them getting ready
and out the door, so I wasn't feeling like I had to have a break. Our
district has so many days off that it is getting just ridiculous. Having
them off so long for Christmas just means that they fight more and get bored
more easily. The less time they have off means they are being kept occupied
and are with their friends and less chance to be bored, at least for my
kids. )
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

Sue wrote:
"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message

I don't know about the kids, but *I* need the break
from their schooling! Mine got off the 22nd and have to go
back the 3rd, and I really want the full two week break we
usually get. I'm not ready for the rat race to start again.

I needed that extra time to get ready for Christmas ;o)

;-)

Since the girls are older now, I am not so involved in them getting ready
and out the door, so I wasn't feeling like I had to have a break. Our
district has so many days off that it is getting just ridiculous. Having
them off so long for Christmas just means that they fight more and get bored
more easily. The less time they have off means they are being kept occupied
and are with their friends and less chance to be bored, at least for my
kids. )

We have Nutcracker eating us alive from Thanksgiving
until (this year) 12/17. During that time, every day is
down to the minute trying to wedge homework and other "must dos"
in between rehearsals. So, by the time Nutcracker is over,
I'm exhausted from all of it. I'm sort of the senior "boy mom"
at the moment, so it's a lot of work to help get everything
ready for the show and then supervise backstage during the
show. This year, by the time it was over, the next weekend
was Christmas. I'd done my shopping mostly prior to
Nutcracker, but still had to get cleaned up and packed and
ready to go away for Christmas, and handle the before break
round of school projects and such. When things start up
again on Wednesday, it'll be back to the rat race of school
and activities and work and such again and I'd just really
like to have a few more days off first! Sometimes the boys
get ornery when they're home all day, but over the holidays
even they've been a bit subdued recovering from it all.
If they could just go back to school and not start up with
the homework and projects, that'd be okay ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka

My sons last day was Dec. 23 and he doesn't go back until Jan. 9. I
think that
is just too long, he should be going back on Jan. 3 IMO. He is too
bored and I
have had enough of his overall attitude.

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 20:16:12 EST, Ericka Kammerer
wrote:

I don't know about the kids, but *I* need the break
from their schooling! Mine got off the 22nd and have to go
back the 3rd, and I really want the full two week break we
usually get. I'm not ready for the rat race to start again.

I've enjoyed being able to sleep in since E has been on break since
the 19th, but I'm ready for her to go back g

Nan

Another data point -- we had 1/2 day on the 22nd and they don't go back
until the 9th. We have had nearly 3 weeks in the past -- but no fall
or mid-winter break. I would prefer more frequent but shorter breaks.
It's a cultural thing here on the Texas/Mexico border -- many families
spend the Christmas holiday in Mexico.

-Dawn
Mom to Henry, 13

In article . com,
"Dawn" wrote:

Another data point -- we had 1/2 day on the 22nd and they don't go back
until the 9th. We have had nearly 3 weeks in the past -- but no fall
or mid-winter break. I would prefer more frequent but shorter breaks.
It's a cultural thing here on the Texas/Mexico border -- many families
spend the Christmas holiday in Mexico.

-Dawn
Mom to Henry, 13


That tradition hits some of the schools way up here in San Jose -- the
schools with a high population of students with extended family in
Mexico have problems with low attendance in early January, as so many of
the students go to stay with relatives for 3 to 4 weeks, starting on
Christmas.

--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
We have Nutcracker eating us alive from Thanksgiving
until (this year) 12/17. During that time, every day is
down to the minute trying to wedge homework and other "must dos"
in between rehearsals. So, by the time Nutcracker is over,
I'm exhausted from all of it.

Oh yes, I am sure you are ready to collapse for a few days. I know I would
be. The girls choir is exhausting enough.

With the boys getting older, do they have the same parts in Nutcracker or
does their parts change from year to year?
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

Sue wrote:
"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message

We have Nutcracker eating us alive from Thanksgiving
until (this year) 12/17. During that time, every day is
down to the minute trying to wedge homework and other "must dos"
in between rehearsals. So, by the time Nutcracker is over,
I'm exhausted from all of it.

Oh yes, I am sure you are ready to collapse for a few days. I know I would
be. The girls choir is exhausting enough.

With the boys getting older, do they have the same parts in Nutcracker or
does their parts change from year to year?

Their parts change somewhat over the years.
Basically, they grow into and out of parts. The
"standard" little boy roles are party boy, soldier/
cannon boy, snow partner, and Baby's Breath (some
partnering at the beginning of the waltz sequence).
My younger son has added Fritz and Chinese and my
older son added Nutcracker/prince and Arabian this year.
Plus, this year there was a lot of new choreography
in parts they'd already done, so it was a hectic
year of learning new things. And, my older son had
to do all the shows because they didn't really have
anyone else to do the Nutcracker part. (The director
felt the older boys who'd been doing it were too big,
not to mention that one of them really had too many
other things to do.)
They really like doing it, and I like this
studio in other ways, but the studio is very, ummm,
logistically challenged. You'd think after thirty-
some-odd years of doing this show, they'd have it
running like a well-oiled machine, but it's a train
wreck logistically. (Artistically, it's fabulous,
but they can't plan their way out of a wet paper
bag.) So, while the kids just have a ball dancing,
I'm often a stressed out basket case making sure that
everyone is running relatively smoothly for them.
Plus, supervising the boys backstage isn't easy
with 8 boys 10 and under (several in the 5-6
range) who are up waaaaay past their bedtime.
The good news is that I think the director has finally
admitted that just maybe they need some help with
the planning and that it might be a good thing if
I helped out with the logistics. That's likely
to mean more work total for me, but spread out
more and with much less panic and stress, so I'll
take it and be glad!

Best wishes,
Ericka

Claire Petersky wrote:
"Scott" wrote in message
...

The schools here this year have a *very* short break. DD and
DS were in school all day on Friday the 23rd (!!) and they
return on Wednesday the 3rd.

Sounds a little longer than here -- they were in school all-day on
12/23, off the following week, and head back tomorrow (Tuesday).

Then again, base on the predicted Northeaster of tonight, they may have
a delay or cancellation tomorrow. I think the schedule here is for
fewer 'planned' vacation days, given the unplanned snow days.

Caledonia