My Students Love Me

Christmas vacation has begun. Today was just a half day at school. We had a Christmas party in the classroom, and everyone exchanged gifts. Here's the gift I got from the class:
It's a tree hung with about 20 gift cards to places such as Baja Fresh, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Blockbuster, Mervyn's, Red Robbin, Rudabagorz, California Pizza Kitchen, Baskin Robbins, Cold Stone, Regal Cinemas, REI, and more!

And that's just the "class gift." Most students gave me individual gifts as well. Among these is an awesome book called Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die. It's great. For each destination, there's a picture, an essay based upon an interview that the author had with the birder who recommended that destination, and an "If You Go" section with information about tour companies that lead birding trips there, the best time to go, and accommodations.

Here's the funny thing about a book like this: it makes me want to start another "list" just for it. So far, Jonathan and I have been to one of these places: Southeastern Arizona. So we've got 49 more to check off the list.

We can just coordinate our vacations around this book for the rest of our lives!