I like Christmas. Don't worry - I'm not going to get all Bah Humbug-ish on you. I'm just getting a bit fed up about the run-up - the pre-amble - the flipping multi-event nature of the thing.
Joel has been practising his Christmas play, or at least the songs therein, since half term. This is not unexpected or problematic, (we are on our second year of school now after all). I'm sure there's a whole lot of mileage to get out of a Christmas play if you're a teacher. Opportunities for learning, or for letting the kids who aren't academic shine at something else... I get it.
Nathan is now also singing Christmas songs from his nursery Christmas play around the house. This is impossibly cute. I do wonder how on earth the nursery staff are going to co-ordinate the little darlings into a 'play'... Still, I know they can work wonders. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing the finished masterpieces.
The problem is that the kids are so hyped up about Christmas, and so tired and end of term-ish already, and there's still a long time to go. Yes I know, for adults (especially the ones like me who aren't even close to completing the Christmas shopping - Argh...) it's not very long, but when you're small, three weeks is ages.
There are also many other carol concerts, parties, craft days, carols round the tree etc etc to be navigated... I'll be relieved when it's the end of term to be honest. So many days of school without their usual routine is not entirely comfortable for a small boy who likes his structure.
I'm hoping that at some point, Christmas will actually feel like it's about Jesus. Not about making costumes (although for those of you who read Shepherd No.1, I actually bought a Shepherd costume from Sainsbury's in the end, and now Nathan can wear it too - as he's also a Shepherd. Genius.). Not about baking (although granted - that is very important...) Not about finding presents for the men in your life that are really awkward to buy for. Once we've hurdled, run, jumped and thrown ourselves through the end of term Christmas gauntlet, Jesus will still be there; the Prince of Peace, the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World.
Amen! As wisdomous as ever. Thank you x
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain - the Christmas "excitement" and "fun" at school - which most of the kids actually seem to love love LOVE and the teachers work really hard to create - is EXTREMELY traumatic if you are a little boy who has autistic traits/autistic spectrum disorder (what's in a name, the end result feels the same to me) - and has resulted in a totally inability to process any other change AT ALL - we can only eat beans or choco hoops for ANY meal and mummy has to have her hair the same every day.................except for the miracle that continues to be his engagement and enjoyment of CHURCH no matter what the changes or challenges - if we're at Church we can do loud noise, strangers, flags, unpredictability, shared lunch....... so thank God for Jesus being at the heart of all the mayhem!
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