December

December is a terrifying month for teachers. The usual four weeks of school is shortened to three, and they seem to fly by at break-neck speed. The students are hyper from their time off at Thanksgiving and wired in expectation of their upcoming two-week winter break. There are holiday plans to distract everyone and concerts and field trips and the start of the winter flu season to keep students away from class. Whatever plans you had for November are probably far from completed in the classroom, while January and the middle of the school year loom over your lesson plans like a vulture waiting to rip the flesh from your dying scope and sequence. Meanwhile, the weather hovers between standard Portland rain and what I like to call the "Troutdale teaser" -- freakishly sunny with the frigid, blustery east winds. (Winter on the West Coast is a strange thing...) The Starbucks cups change color, as do the interiors of most stores, and radio stations play classic Christmas songs sung by the most unlikely artists. (I recently heard a rock-and-roll version of "O Holy Night" that I have not yet managed to forget.) For whatever reason, my local Safeway is now selling penguins in its floral department. I'm not sure why penguins are so meaningful at holiday time, except for their association with cold weather, but these were intriguing enough for us to buy one. He sits on our porch, and his name is Pierre. Why? It's December. Why not?