So last week as I entered my Grade 12 history class I was greeted by one of my students who presented me with a Pringles potato chip. Hiding the can from me, she told me to “taste it!” I’m usually very leery about requests to taste or smell unknown things for obvious reasons, but I decided to trust her judgement as I’ve never met a potato chip I didn’t like (well, with the exception of dill pickle). Taking the plunge, I was immediately greeted by the strangest combination of flavours I’ve ever experienced. I thought I tasted what seemed like peppermint and chocolate…weird. Turns out that Pringles has released some new flavours for the holidays, including white chocolate and peppermint; not something I’ll be running to the store for!

Anyway, the special edition chips tell us that Christmas is rapidly approaching. The man in the big red suit arrives in exactly one week! It’s hard to believe that it is almost here. It seems like yesterday that it was September and the school year was just starting. Where does the time go? Maybe the saying is true, “time flies when you’re having fun!” I wouldn’t necessarily say it was all fun, but certainly it was memorable.

It has once again been a very busy week on all fronts, especially with work. I am desperately trying to clear up as much marking as I can before we head into the break. My main priority is to finish marking the Gr.12 Independent Studies that I promised would be back by Friday. I also have a bunch of other things that I doubt will be done before Friday and on Thursday all three of my classes are writing tests. So I guess I’ll have a pile of marking to do over the break that I probably won’t get all through.

Speaking of work to do over the holidays, I know I’ll be spending some time going through clips and putting together our annual football highlight video. Come January players from this year’s team will be visiting our feeder school Pope John Paul II to do some recruiting. I guess I’ll have my work cut out for me!

It is also a very busy time for our boys with all the pre-Christmas activities. I spent the afternoon today with my youngest Noah at one of the local farms, Gammondale. They do a real good job making things fun and exciting for these young kids. Too bad they were not able to do the sleigh ride because of the lack of snow. Yes, once again pretty much all of the snow has disappeared due to warm temperatures! Unless we get some snowfall in the next few days (which is not in the forecast), we will have that brown Christmas I spoke of a few weeks ago.

Now with the approach of that much anticipated two weeks off, one of my primary goals (on top of all the other things I just wrote about and then some) is to do some work on my Leeblain article. It seems like eons since I last looked at it (November 4^th according to my computer). I really want to get it done so I can have my contact at the Thunder Bay Historical Society take a look at it and give me some feedback. With Christmas close to the beginning of the break, I should be able to squeeze in some time here and there.

Handcar on the PAD&W, date unknown (Shelley Simon).

Work is continuing to progress on the Silver Mountain Historical Society. The last week has been filled with many little projects associated with the start-up and incorporation of this organization. We are hoping to have an executive meeting early in the New Year to complete and file the incorporation papers.

Ready for the incorporaton meeting, December 2012.

Yesterday I posted the first of what will be many blog entries describing the latest news from the society on our WordPress site. It seems if I am rapidly becoming a social media junky. Between the two blogs, several Facebook groups and pages, as well as four Twitter accounts, I feel as if this is like a fulltime job. However in this electronic age, it is absolutely critical to tap every medium possible. One of our goals is to reach out to our youth, and as a teacher I know that you need to speak their language and utilize all the latest technology. Welcome to a new era, where history can be hip and cool!

Shelley Simon and I speaking at the SMHS, December 2012.

On a final note, work is progressing on my personal project to preserve the railway in the North-Gunflint Lake area. Today I received an email from my contact in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Apparently gears are turning at the government level and hopefully everyone involved will be able to sit down and discuss where to proceed next. This certainly gives me reason for some optimism. I know that things like this take time, but at least we are moving in the right direction.

Anyway, it’s time to go…marking beckons! Next week’s blog will be a day early due to Christmas. Until then…