Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! The month of December was a very busy time for us - with the Nursery School concert, preparation for Christmas, a short trip to NYC with friends (picture is of us in Central Park) and a weekend in Toronto for a wedding - but it was a wonderful month and I think we managed to keep things relatively calm and relaxed, which was my ultimate goal.

The Holiday concert with the Nursery School children - both in the morning and afternoon, went fantastic! The children all sang their little hearts out and were dressed in their fanciest clothes, it was a wonderful celebration of the season and all that we had learned so far this year. And the teachers and I loved all of the holiday cards and kind words - thank you so very much, my fireplace mantle was full of beautiful wishes for the holidays.

A Gym Tale's Winter session of the Gym and Music classes also began before the holidays and it was great to have so many returning families as well as having the opportunity to meet many new families. Play classes will resume next week and I do still have spaces in each of the age groups if you are still looking for an activity to keep the kids active over the winter months. With the weather we are having it has been difficult keeping Ewan active outdoors with how cold it has been and the sheer amount of snow that we have had recently.

Winter camps were also a great success this year. We were very busy this week and everyone really enjoyed themselves. The hostesses really enjoy the opportunity to get to know many of the children that they briefly meet during the birthday parties. It is also nice to have a more relaxed pace of the camp program as opposed to the time constraints with the birthday parties. The camps provide the guests with the opportunity to use the indoor playground, the gymnastics area as well as snack time, art activities and group games. Registration for March Break programs will begin mid January.


Personally, our Christmas was really enjoyable. Last year Ewan was very overwhelmed and it became more stressful trying to encourage him to keep up with the number of gifts, visits and parties. This year we kept it simple - gifts were drastically reduced and all were open-ended imaginative items, my last post goes into detail of what we chose to give to the kids. We also worked around the kids schedules - visits were shorter so the kids could get in their naps and get to bed at night at a decent time. Alan and I were also more relaxed and we were happy to let the kids play at home and enjoy not having to leave the house every morning to rush somewhere. The holiday pictures below were taken by Elizabeth Fulton.

And our New Year's Eve was the ultimate in relaxation - some may call boring, but after six years of running the New Year's Eve Sleepover at A Gym Tale, that is what we needed. We simply rented a movie and enjoyed a glass of wine and it was amazing! The Sleepover was always a great event, and we may continue next year, but this was a well needed break.

 Alan and I have had the opportunity to look back over the successes of the past year, including the Reggio inspired updates to the Nursery School program and the many upgrades and renovations to A Gym Tale as well as think ahead to new programming that we would like to implement in the future. We are very excited for 2013 and we are sure this will be a great year for A Gym Tale!