have yourself a merry little christmas

There’s something about the last day of term that fills me with Christmas spirit. I don’t know why it is but I’m pretty much humbug up to this point. The best attempts of corporate society to fill my waking thoughts with everything yuletide are wasted on me until the last few hours of school.

I’m good at hiding it. I play Christmas music in some of my classes – though I tend to favour cheesy Christmas jazz over cheesy Christmas pop - I smile and reciprocate when people wish me seasons greetings; I bit my tongue when Ballymena Borough Council put up their Christmas lights in early November; to all intents and purposes I appear to join in fully. The truth, however, is that I’m just not feeling it.

Today, though, I am feeling it. I look at the kids arriving for the Christmas disco with tinsel in their hair and presents in their hands and it warms my heart that they are having fun. I look out across the frost covered houses surrounding the school and I dream of snow drifting slowly on a crisp Christmas morning. Isn’t creation wonderful? I sit here and think about what Christmas represents and what it means for the future of the human race and suddenly I crack a genuine smile for the first time in ages.

I don’t know if I will be adding anything here between now and Christmas day. If not I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a joyous and blessed Christmas, it truly is a magical time of the year.