Yes, I’m still alive!  My internet has been really slow and I can’t upload pictures when it’s running so slowly!  Here are some more details about this year’s visit from the GBM!

Here is the package that starts it all!  The GBM left us this package, some money, our passports, and a trail of cookie crumbs and gumdrops.  When we opened it, we found out that the GBM had taken our cookies (that we were supposed to make a graph with later in the day) and has gone looking for different customs and celebrations around the world.  He says he will be sending us more letters so that we can learn about the customs and celebrations as well.  He took the cookies so he would have something to eat on his journey.  Each time we get a letter, we are supposed to find that country on a map and after learning about a celebration or custom in that country, we write about it in our passport.

The second day (which was really two days after we got the 1st package), we got a letter and some books from Mexico.  My kids get excited every year when the package comes from Mexico because they know that the Monarch Butterflies we have spent so much time learning about in the fall are in Mexico waiting for winter to be over with.  The GBM even mentions them in this letter!  We also read Adelita (the Mexican Cinderella story) adn P is for Pinata to learn more about some celebrations that happen in Mexico.  We learned about Las Posadas, Cinco de Mayo (Mexico’s independence day, mostly celebrated in the U.S.), and Los dias de Muerto (day of the dead–Halloween).

The kids wanted to see if they could trick the GBM into coming back to visit so they could catch him, so we came up with this note… 🙂

Kristen 🙂