Hello all. We had a little snow fall in NH two days ago but now we have rain.Ugh. Happy New Year to everyone. Wishing everyone peace and joy for the upcoming year. Maria http://classblogmeister.com/1.0/blog.php?blogger_id=51141

Hi Jennifer, Florida is a great place to spend the Christmas holiday with our family.

From Sharon Peters - Hi Jennifer - I was happy to take my camera with me for my daily walk around my neighbourhood of historic Pointe-Claire, on the island of Montréal to include in your album. The first set were taken on Christmas Day with no snow (désolée); but then, we had snow overnight, so I went out again on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) to do them over again! What a contrast! Joyeux Noël and Happy Holidays!

From Charlene... although Libertyville had more than 2 feet of snow in the beginning of December, it has all melted now. This was taken on Christmas morning, a cool, overcast day with mild winter temperatures (about 40 degrees F) for mid-western United States. Libertyville is a far northern suburb of Chicago. http://www.libertyville.com.

Hi Jennifer, I posted two photos that I took yesterday. I had forgotten two dvds and had to drive from Saskatoon, where I live, to Hafford, 100 km away, where I work. I have to pass twice daily through the Saskatchewan River valley on Highway 16 (the Trans-Canada Highway North) near Borden, Saskatchewan. These were taken between 3 and 4 pm. The temperature was about -6.0 celcius with a wind high enough to keep snow drifting across the highway. When I got back to Saskatoon, I took the movies back to the mall. People were still out shopping at 3:30; the mall stayed open until 5:00 Christmas Eve.

CherylL here in southeastern Michigan (3 miles from Toledo, Ohio). We defintely did not get a white Christmas. Temperatures have been between 45 - 60 degrees for the last week. It started raining today (again) so I didn't take any outside pics of the soggy mess. There is a possibility of temperatures dropping tonight and some snow (fingers crossed). This morning I had four of my six children home and my new grandson. After midnight mass, we came home and read our traditional Christmas Eve story. Every year the story changes and the kids don't know what it is until after church. I felt so blessed to have most of my family here. My two oldest boys were not able to make it home, but my oldest daughter came home with the baby and it has been great!

This is Jennifer Wagner in California (Southern California) It is December 25th at 10am and the weather is beautiful. 53°F Mostly Cloudy Wind: N at 0 mph Humidity: 47% We expect rain tomorrow -- but not much. And it won't snow. (sadness) The nights in Corona, CA have been quite cold lately. (tonight it will get down to 26 degrees -- which is COLD for us!) Corona used to be a citrus town and if there will still orange trees, we would be smelling smudge pots tonight. All the major tourist attractions are decked out for the holidays. Disneyland especially has been very very pretty. They change "It's A Small World" for the holiday season and the song changes as well. Disneyland will stay wintery until the beginning of 2007. We are most anxious for January 1st -- which is the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena (30 miles from where I live). Corona is known for being the home for Fender Guitars. We also have a very famous cheese factory and Desi Arnaz (from I Love Lucy) used to have a ranch in Corona, and Kevin Costner's mom lives here. :) Merry Christmas, Jen

This is Jo McLeay of the http://theopenclassroom.blogspot.com. Pictured are my sister, husband and four of my five children; one is a nurse and is working. Here we are after Christmas lunch at my sister's place. She is the one with the Jack Russell. The weather here is cold, just 16 degrees after days of high 30s and into the 40s. The dry conditions and high winds have fanned the bushfires in country Victoria. But suddenly at Christmas we get rain and hail and a reprieve for the firefighters and residents whose homes were threatened. My sister is a keen gardener as can be seen and the small containers are filled with rainwater for later use when summer returns.

The Outer Banks of North Carolina consists of a string of small communities built on a sand ridge and connected together by highway 12 and bridges. Beginning at the most northern points is Corolla, Duck, Southern Shores, (where I live and took the pictures) Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, (Nags Head Elementary School) Manteo, Wanchese. Traveling south past Oregon Inlet on highway 12 you venture through Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton, Frisco, Hatteras. Map The weather is unseasonably warm on the coast this year, so a daily trek to the beach is a usual occurrence. On this 60 degree F morning, I grabbed some of the neighborhood kids and we headed to the beach. The girls made sand angels and looked for sea glass along the water’s edge. The Atlantic Ocean is calm today but as our little piece of land juts way out into the mighty ocean, there are days when the winds and waves are fierce. Our area is known as the home on the first permanent English settlement in the new world (1587). A colony of 120 men, women, and children settled on a small island called Roanoke. The colony vanished without documentation of their plans. This event lives in the rich history of our area today. Many years later in 1903, Orville and Wibur Wright came to Kitty Hawk to fly the first powered aircraft. The Wright Brothers National Memorial is destination of many visitors all year-round. Much of our sandy environment has been set aside as National Seashore which provides locals and visitors alike, the accessibility to 125 miles of pristine beaches, wildlife refuges, historical sites, and lighthouses to make North Carolina’s Outer Banks a great place so spend the holidays.

We are writing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where it is at least 90 degrees, sunny and humid. Our school is an international school, so there are many different traditions and customs. In Malaysia, we have three major ethnicities, Malay, Chinese, and Indian. You may think Malaysia doesn't celebrate Christmas, but many of us do. Here in Malaysia, we start the holiday season much earlier than in the United States. The first holiday is the Muslim festival of Hari Raya (at the end of Ramadan), where people get together and ask forgiveness from others. This means the start of brand new relationships, which means all grudges held against someone is gone and forgiven. Before celebrating, Muslims must fast for one month before Hari Raya. They do this to cleanse the body of any impurities. The second holiday is the Hindu festival of Deepavali. Translated to English, this means 'Festival of Lights'. This is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil; celebrated by lighting lamps as a sign of hope for mankind. As you can see by its name, this festival mainly focuses on lights and lamps, particularly diyas, which is a small earthen pot. The next holiday is Christmas. Around the school we decorate with Christmas ornaments. It seems that every one around us is in that Christmas mood, we sing songs play games, and make Christmas ornaments in school. It's not just at school where we celebrate Christmas, it's all around Malaysia. As we drive around we see signs saying, MERRY CHRISTMAS, COME TO THE CHRISTMAS CONCERT. Everyone wants to celebrate this festive season, even though we have no snow in our tropical climate! As we shop in malls, around us there are huge Christmas trees and stalls full of Christmas gifts. The final festival of this very long holiday season is Chinese New Year. It celebrates the coming of the New Year that is usually associated with the rule of the 12 animals. The story is that Buddha was away and he wanted someone to rule. Animals fought over the throne so the Buddha organized a race to the end of the river. At the end, the rat won so it ruled for a year, and then the second winner would rule the second year and that is how it goes. The Chinese celebrate the New Year by blowing firecrackers, and sweeping the house. Sweeping the house gets rid of bad luck in their house. Firecrackers get rid of evil spirits. This year is the year of the dog. WOOF, WOOF!!! The nice thing we notice in this country is that everyone enjoys celebrating all of these holidays together! Posted by Ms. C

These are the free standing gingerbread houses our class made. It took us all day, but we had a great time.

Our art teacher has each grade level focus on a particular artist or art style and we decorate art trees. Then we have a penny tree vote and the grade level with the most votes gets a popcorn and movie party. The first graders did the Texas clay art tree.

December 15th- Webster, Texas- foggy, humid and 78 degrees.