Preparing for a trip around the World!!!!

WOW... I see the light!! I cannot believe it is already time for Thanksgiving break! Monday and Tuesday are our district required Parent Teacher Conference days. We are required to be on the clock from 8am until 9pm Monday (full day with students of course...) then Tuesday the students have 1/2 day and we have conference time until 7:30!! YIKES!! I am SO GRATEFUL to my sister Ronda for handling the home front for me during these crazy hours! Daddy B. has a crazy work schedule and won't be home until who knows when!!!
I am looking forward to the break but also getting SO EXCITED for our Christmas Around the World unit! This year will be the 3rd year I have co-taught this extravaganza (read... exercise in INSANITY) with my good friend Julie. She is the special Education teacher and a gift to education! The last 2 years we taught an inclusion class. It was "fun" and busy with her 8 kiddos and my 22 the first year. Last year was downright nuts and nearly required some adult eggnog to get us through. (WE DIDN'T THOUGH SO DON'T JUDGE!!) Imagine 23 firsties (a few with some SERIOUS social and emotional issues) and 18 Special Ed students with a variety of learning and social issues. I am wondering how this will work this year with my 27 angels (they truly are!!) and her at least 10 or so little peeps! Luckily she comes with and AH-MAZ-ING parapro and I am blessed with Grandma and a rocking Para myself this year. I just wish we could remove a section of concrete wall to make it physically more comfortable... I don't think the admins would go for that!
The unit is super cool with foods, music, crafts and history from Mexico, USA, Germany, England, Sweden, France, and Italy. We get a little slap happy about the 3rd country and have even been known to bust into those laughs where you can't breathe, your voice raises an octave, and you have tears running down your cheeks!! It is then where we resort to the theme from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and the kids fend for themselves!! Either way it is a fun learning experience for the classes with lots of writing, math, crafts, and memory making!
Do any of my teacher friends out there do a similar unit? Any fun ideas or crafty items you would like to share? Any parents or friends who have ideas for us before we embark on the Christmas of Crazy 2011?? Drop me a line or a comment and let me know! I will surely be posting as we go along!