I got my first tip from a student today. As all of the kids were leaving, a girl handed me an envelope (we had made envelopes out of old magazine pages during class to illustrate the concept of reusing things) with a dollar in it. I tried to give it back to her, but she wouldn't take it. Thinking about it, I think I earned the tip anyway, since this was the girl who I'd carried a half a mile on Thursday after she twisted her knee. She's feeling much better now.

I got mentioned a couple of times on the teacher feedback forms too. Apparently they were impressed by my constellation talk. Yay for me.

I took the girls to my work's Christmas party, and they had a good time until a strangely costumed Santa made an appearance. Willow immediately started saying, "I GO HOME! GET SOPHIA! I GO HOME!," followed by, "I DON'T LIKE SATA!" Sophie very emphatically didn't want to go because she was busy hobnobbing with my coworkers, so I was stuck in between two opposing forces. Cry if we do, scream if we don't. One of my other coworkers, bless her heart, came to my rescue by pointing out the mini-play structure out back (the party was in the clubhouse at a mobile home park). I took the girls out there for awhile and we played pirates. This was enough to mostly erase any thoughts of Bad Santa from Willow's mind. We popped back in long enough for the girls to hang around the pool table and interrupt some games. Despite everything, they charmed everyone. We even made off with a ton of extra food.