Christmas wishes

I've been asking my students what they want for Christmas--I even invented a fictitious 10 year old male relative when my boys asked me, "Why are you asking? Are you going to get it for us?" To the majority of my students, I'm wealthy. They've expressed that I should bring snacks to school for them everyday. Dream on, I tell them.

Anyway, I've been asking about Christmas. I want to get to know them better and I thought this might be a way to do so. Yesterday, as we were waiting for the bus bell to ring, I asked Spunky Girl what she wanted for Christmas. "A metal detector, a game, . . ." she began. "Wait a sec," I interjected. "You want a metal detector?" Her reply absolutely floored me.

"Well, yeah, DUH."

Like it was the most natural thing on earth for a 9 year old girl to want.

Laughing, I asked Spunky Girl why she wanted a metal detector. "So I can find all of the stuff my brother has buried in the yard," she said.

Just when it was getting interesting, the bus bell rang and Spunky Girl and the rest of my class surged out of the building to the waiting buses. I think this is the only time this year I've hated to hear that bell. :)