deliberation and decorating cookies

Although almost half of December has passed, I sort feel like I've missed out on some of the "pre-Christmas fun.  Yes, we did get our tree and other indoor decor up at home over Thanksgiving weekend, and I have been enjoying the twinkling lights on the tree in the evening.  And I did get in on "black Friday" shopping, as well as quite a bit of online shopping this year (but have a lot of wrapping to do!)  I guess what I have really been missing is the fun of celebrating the season in my elementary school classroom. There's nothing like hanging out with excited kiddos at this time of year.

I've been missed out on 10 days of the fun.  Yep, 10 days.  I've been serving on jury duty.

Deliberation

I have never even been summoned to report for jury duty, and was asked to report on Nov. 29. (Luckily, since the judge was sick (sorry Judge!), the date got pushed back a day to the 30th and I did get to enjoy our comp/vacation day off of school).  Little did I know at that time how much school I would really be missing!   Long story short, I (ironically, along with several co-workers) was selected to serve on the jury.  The whole process has actually been very interesting, and I learned a lot about the judicial system and how unique our system of government is (and how fortunate we are to have the system we have).  

However, the case involved criminal charges regarding dependent adult abuse, and involved many days of testimony that was both difficult and exhausting to hear and process.  

So that's why I've spent 10 school days in the courtroom rather than my classroom. (To put that into perspective, I have not taught since prior to Thanksgiving, barring one afternoon when court was released early due to the witness schedule and my sub needed to be gone herself - so I did get to see my kiddos for a few hours one Friday). Whew! That is 2 days longer than our Christmas vacation will be!

We just delivered the verdict today, so tomorrow will be my first day back at school.  I am super excited to see my kids, but wonder how I will make it through the day!? I am sure they will have lots of questions for me (they did last week when I was in for those few hours, and at that time I could tell them that I wasn't allowed to talk about it, which is true).  I am sure I won't share with them these things necessarily, but a few things I've learned through jury duty:

• I am not good at not talking to others about what I see/hear - the admonishment was very difficult for me.

• I am also not good a compartmentalizing . . . this case haunted me every night and made it difficult to sleep.  I am hoping now that the verdict is in, that will change.

•  It is a good thing to try to see a situation from many points of view.

• It is a hard thing to decide the guilt or innocence of another, and a burden not to be thought of lightly.

• I don't understand how a person can harm another person, especially when he/she is unable to defend for his/herself.

• I can also tell you the best/worst places to eat lunch in Washington, Iowa!

Decorating Cookies

Thankfully I have gotten to do a few fun Christmas-y things (although most nights I was just mentally and emotionally spent, and eventually physically too after all those sleepless/sleep little nights  . . . seriously, ask Billy).

A couple of Sundays ago, Allie, Mom, and I did our traditional sugar cookie baking/frosting.  B was happy to look on and to hope for a bite!

This past weekend we did some baking at our house too . . . B's favorite job seems to be quality control (aka taste tester)

And who knew? Billy is a fabulous froster!

I'm waaaayyyy behind on my usual number of completed cookie batches for this time of the month, but have hopes of catching up!  Bring on the holiday fun!