PHOTOS: Students head off for winter break as Santa watches closely

On a very chilly Dec. 22 morning, Santa welcomed the students of Stapleton Elementary to school with a jolly, “Merry Christmas!

“Good morning! Merry Christmas. Ho Ho Ho. Hope you’ve been good this year,” Santa said.

Santa makes an appearance at the school every year to make sure children are behaving, even with Christmas just a few days away.

The students would only be in class for a couple of hours before heading home at 10:15 a.m. Most students were wiggling with anticipation for the upcoming winter break.

Teachers made sure they had activities ready for the kids to do for the short time they had them.

In one first-grade class the students, while in their pajamas, made ornaments and listened to holiday music.

“My favorite was the reindeer. I’m excited for winter break. I am going to play with my brothers over break,” Maverick Jensen, 6, said.

There were three stations with some parents there to volunteer a helping hand. Students got to make a snowman, a reindeer and got to pick one or the other at the last station.

They also got to have a cup of hot chocolate to start the morning off.

“The coco was really good. I’m excited for break. I asked for a camera and more stufties for Christmas,” Elsi Wade, 6, said.

Teachers are also more than ready for some recovery time from the first half of the year. The tired instructors pulled out all the stops for the kids to have a good end of the year. Some threw parties, others watched movies and some wrapped individual gifts for each of their students.

“It’s always really exciting to go on break, and I love the stories the kids bring back,” first-grade Teacher Crista Huggard said.

As students rushed out of the building to get home and start their holiday, the phrase “Merry Christmas” could be heard down the halls.

The students and teachers will be back at school Jan. 9.