While everyone is off celebrating with their families, I wanted to take another opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Our family may not celebrate, but we understand the importance of traditions and spending time with those you love.
Do not forget to enjoy this special time of year with everyone you love. Take lots of photos and make many magical memories to last a lifetime.
Twas the day before Christmas and all through the land, people were prepping for St. Nicholas to land.
These words do not fit into our household since we are Jewish. Still, I enjoy looking at photos from friends baking cookies, wrapping presents, and enjoying their beautifully decorated Christmas trees. 
Back at our house, focus has been on getting the boys to feel better. Both started off their winter break with different symptoms that have not been pleasant. JSL has a cough that has kept many of us up for several nights. NHL had a fever and took a three hour nap followed by a request for more resting. Now, as I get ready to wish everyone a very merry Christmas with their families I look forward to healthy kiddos gracing my house so we can enjoy the week off of school together. Crafts to attempt, adventures to go on, and friends/family to visit.
On Christmas morning, we will watch the Disney Christmas parade and it will bring back memories of seeing Walt Disney World all dressed up for the holidays. After that, we will have a nice and relaxing day before dinner with TechyDad later in the evening.
So to all that are gearing up for time with your families this is for you:
When I was teaching in a classroom, I was best friends with the thermal laminator in our building. I used it for student work, for protecting my reference tools, and making sure that decorations were ready to use for multiple years. Yes, I spent many hours learning how to make that giant thermal laminator get a work out.
For quite some time, I was toying with getting a laminator at home. The other day, A Frugal Friend posted about a one day special on a Scotch Thermal Laminator on Amazon. When she told me that she has used it for two years now and that I would love it, I was sold. Of course the one day price was even better ($16.99 – now under $30). Yes, I bought the Scotch Thermal Laminator 2 Roller System 
I asked JSL to find art that he had made. Of course, he picked one that would not fit in a pouch at first. Not to worry, we found some on a regular sized piece of paper and put it into a pouch. While that was waiting, I set up the machine. It was SO easy to use and the instructions were great.
The machine did not take long to heat up. Once it was set, I simply placed the Thermal Pouch
The artwork that JSL made was now protected and ready for him to take around and share with others. Of course, once you laminate one item you, you start to think about other things to create. My mind immediately went to maps for the little kiddo. He loves playing with them and using them for pirate treasure hunts. So, I pulled out some extra Disney Parks maps and put them onto a piece of computer paper. That was then placed into a pouch to laminate.
JSL was in love and later on we made one more map so all four of the Walt Disney World parks were accounted for. In the end, I was happy with my purchase and my kiddo now can not wait to try the laminator (he says this in a Dr. Doofenshmirtz voice) again.
So my question this week is inspired by my new laminator:
What would you love to laminate if you had a machine and why? Yes, I am also using this to come up with more ideas.
Disclosure: An Amazon Affiliate link is included in this post for the thermal laminator mentioned. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to purchase it through that link.
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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Aloha #234
It all started in the fifth grade. That was the year my teacher broke away from the traditional basal readers for Language Arts instruction. There were two to four books that we would all be reading in different groups during the academic year. For some reason, I can only recall two of them. The first one that I read was The Diary of Anne Frank. It was the year after my Hebrew School teacher talked with us about the Holocaust. She and her husband were survivors and had the tattooed numbers on their arms. From that day on, I wanted to learn everything I could about the time period. I wanted to know so I could be sure it would never happen again.
On the flip side, there was another book that we read. It was by J.R.R. Tolkien. This was the first time I was forced, yes I am using that word, to read something I did not like. The small writing on the page, the long chapters, the descriptive nature by the author all turned me off of reading. What was the book? It is quite popular these days and you probably know just from the title. He’s a photo of TechyDad’s prized copy:
I’m sorry Bilbo Baggins, I have nothing really against you I just did not like The Hobbit. Truth be told the style of writing just was not for me. This experience helped me in the classroom when I was teaching Language Arts to sixth graders. I could understand that not everyone would adore the books that I selected and had to help them to work around this. I even told them about my life experience being told I had to read something. Yes, humanizing and relating to my students helped.
Fast forward to the release of The Hobbit in the movies. You see, this is a favorite book for TechyDad and he really, really, really wants to see the movie. When we first were married, the Lord of the Rings movies were out and I tried to watch them with him. I fell asleep and never made it past the first part of movie one. Yes, I do believe that some of that was me protesting thanks to my reading experience in fifth grade.
Now I’m conflicted. Do I spend the money to attempt to see the movie with him and try to ease up my Hobbit Phobia, or just send him off to see it alone? Have you ever had experience reading a book where you just could not move forward?
Although I have been to Walt Disney World countless times in my life, I had never experienced a major holiday season while visiting. This all changed with our trip for the official opening of New Fantasyland. The holiday magic is in every resort and park and really highlights the location that they are in. Although I do not celebrate Christmas, it was a joy to wander around looking at all of the festive decorations and lights. Sharing some of these seemed the perfect way to channel the theme of *Joy* this week.
Be sure to stop by Focused on the Magic by clicking on the button above to join in the Disney magic this week.
Disclosure: TechyDad was invited to the New Fantasyland media event December 5-7. Disney paid for his travel, our park tickets, room, along with some extra surprises. I was his guest and invited to special events, but paid for my travel and an extra night at the resort.
