Tales from the Trenches: Obligations of a PTA mom

Okay, this one took me by surprise. About a week and a half ago, a sheet came home about signing our children up for Breakfast with Santa. It was $5.00 for a breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs, pancakes, juice, hot chocolate, a picture with Santa and a special treat. So, I kept watching K-'s backpack for information.

Finally, I sent a note to school:
"Breakfast with Santa info? If it is coming home today, disregard my note. If not, what time does she need to be there?"

Teacher response:
"Bring K- to school at 8:15 AM and plan to stay with her."

Hmmm. So I call a mom that I know from the preschool days. I know that R- is her third to do this.

"Kay, what's up with the Santa breakfast tomorrow? Mrs. H- said that I need to stay on, but I have no idea why."

"Because the moms cook the breakfast."

"Huh?"

"The moms cook the breakfast and Mrs. C- will only allow you to make the hot chocolate the 'old fashioned way,' so it takes a long time."

"Um, what time do these kids eat?"

"9 AM. So we do the cooking and clean-up."

"Kay, there was nothing that came home that said any of this."

"Oh, I know. Nothing came home to anyone. They usually don't say a whole lot about it."

"So, I should probably pack my lunch before I leave tomorrow, too."

"Come ready to go to work and excuse yourself when you need to leave."

I don't mind helping. I really don't. My minding is that no one said anything. Parents work. There are extra children in tow. What are they supposed to do? I doubt that there will be 90 parents helping out with this thing. I called my neighbor to let her know what was going on. She had no clue and she worked the Santa Shop this past weekend. In fact, she forgot about Breakfast with Santa altogether. I'll work it, bow out when I have to and shuttle onward to work.

Next Wednesday, they scheduled the Kindergarten Christmas program for 12:15 PM. Hubs cannot go. MIL is going to go with me, but I have to leave work, go and run on back to work.

Is the wacky communication and odd scheduling typical for schools or just ours?

Smiles in my day:
- I'm still happy from all I was able to accomplish this weekend. Almost 23 dozen cookies baked. 35 + packages wrapped and dropped to their proper Christmas tree homes. 18 necklaces crafted. Laundry folded and caught back up. House cleaned. Attended Lowe's workshop, Santa Shop and Pat Catan's Secret Santa Workshop with K- and crafted things at each one. Attended Festival Choir, Advisory Board Meeting, Leadership Meeting and the Congregational Meeting Sunday night, after which I went to the grocery. I also had time to eat and sleep.
- I made a quickie crock pot of chicken soup this morning. I didn't have time to fuss with it, so it was very basic. Hubs made noodles for it this evening, ate it (it was Hubs legal since it was so basic) and he LOVED it. It was good. Hit the spot.
- We had snowfall that stuck! Big fluffy flakes! And yes, driving to work I slid a little on a bridge. It was only about 3 feet or less. Apparently, the bridge had frozen over.
- Heather stopped by this morning with donuts in hand. She called just a bit ago to let me know that they won't be moving to Ontario. At least the transfer her husband will be making is stateside.
- I found a way nifty R2D2 Play-Doh set for K-'s birthday. She was with me and very good when I told her that she needed to stand so that I could take the item I needed off the shelf and wrap it in her coat. She covered her face at the register and didn't want to see what I was getting. We hate spoiled surprises in our house.
- Rachael gets to find out the bean flavor today. I'm feeling all girl about it.

Morning comes early in a house where you need to leave with your spatula in hand. Good day to everyone!