Bob

was wearing a green sweater so I figured he may be in the spirit for Christmas. Indeed, Bob has already put up his 6 1/2 feet tall Christmas tree. It took him four hours to decorate and hang each of his 1000 ornaments! Yes, 1000 pieces!! His favorite ornaments are the ones that his students made for him over the years.

Bob is a Social Sciences teacher in upstate New York and teaches students in grades 5 through 8. I immediately made the assumption that teaching teenagers must make for a high stress job but Bob believes that it is the best age because the kids are old enough to get the jokes but not too old to get jaded. I asked if he would share a few words of advice for parents, like me, who are prematurely dreadful of the teen years. Bob suggested to encourage open communication at all times and to refrain from over-reacting because it is important for kids to be able to come back to talk to you. I shall keep that in mind and will try to keep the jokes flowing while the kids are receptive to them. Kids grow so fast though. On Saturday, we had "breakfast with Santa" (school sponsored event) and my five year old daughter whispers "that is not the real Santa; he's too young." I was speechless for a moment and then made up a reason for this "pretend" Santa. She didn't seem too convinced by my response but was willing to move on. Whew!

After all the holiday celebrations and eating at favorite places like Da Rosina while in NY City, Bob will tackle his New Year's resolution, which is to lose weight. I bid him buena fortuna!