Last day of school, christmas vacation begins. For the first time I truly saw the Christmas spirit at the school and the joy of Christmas in the little ones eyes, how excited they were to get their gifts. It was a beautiful day, something not seen at our school for a long time. I am so glad I spent the extra money on the Thomas the Train for one of my students, it was the only thing he played with all day and my big tough fifth graders really did want Hot Wheels. It was a great day.

The weeks are flying by, December is half over already, Christmas in two weeks, how did we get here so fast? I have a ton of things to do, but had the UIL competition all day today, up at 5:00, at school by 7:00, walked 5,000 steps just there, got home by 4:15 and then time to go to church. I don't realize how tired I am until I stop and sit down. Getting caught up and then will rest, still have lots to do during tomorrow. Walking with the cane getting easier, but still a long way to go with standing up. On the bright side, bending over and touching the floor is easier to do!

I have been so busy I haven't had time to post anything since Thanksgiving, amazing. I hit the stores for Black Friday, not the same stamina that I had in the past,but I can shop for 1 hour straight, then need to rest before I go again. Sad reality, may stores do not have dressing rooms that accommodate walkers, not going there again. Saw a pair of purple to die for shoes in Naturalizer, bummer, don't come in a 5. I prepared for my evaluation at school, scary, I didn't know what to expect, but all things considered, it went well, even though the list of passwords that is ALWAYS near the computer wasn't there. Friday, Dec. 4th, came and went and there were not disasters, it was a year ago on that date that I began this long, slow journey. I kept expecting something to happen all day, nothing, walked in slip on shoes during therapy, and then wore the same shoes to dinner with several people from church. Not ready to wear those shoes and walk on carpet with a cane though, definitely need the walker for carpet. Well off the rest before school tomorrow, didn't do much of that this weekend. On the bright side, I stood up from the mat at therapy at 17 inches, need to do it when I don't have any support behind my legs.