But I Smile Anyway…

Happy Monday to you all! It’s the last Monday before Christmas today. I bet you’re all busy, getting things ready for the festive season!

• If we were sipping chai together I’d sigh, and say, “Yessss! I’m on holiday! It’s been a busy half term, as always, and the run up to the Christmas holidays are always chock-a-block with fun, but tiring activites!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d have to tell you about last Monday. We took the children to see a little mini panto at the local theatre. A 20 minute walk from our school. We do this every year. Should be simple, right? Since when is anything I get involved in, simple? Our Monday consisted of this – we started the day with Christmas choosing activities, and spent time compiling the children’s Christmas crafts and presents for their families. Then after an early break, we gathered the parent volunteers, and got the kids ready to walk down to the theatre. All good, so far. We arrived at 10.45am for an 11am performance. To be told that it had started at 10.30am! A slight confusion there, as we had originally booked for a different day, when the performance was due to start at 11am. But the booking needed changing, so the venue happily switched the dates, though forgot to mention that the new performance was at a different time! What were we to do with a gang of 60 children and 16 adults? Luckily, we managed to arrange to see Father Christmas after this morning’s performance (which we would have done, had we been there on time) and were hastily booked in to the afternoon performance instead! Yet there was still time to kill, so we ended up standing outside the theatre near the big town Christmas tree, posing for class photos, and ended up singing carols to passers by! Then it was a quick walk back, the children ate lunch, had a run around, and we queued them up again for the second walk of the day! The children, and adults, enjoyed a little production called Christmas Rox, about a guitar playing girl who wants to become one of Santa’s elves, and a Presley obsessed elf called Elfis, who kept on dropping lyrics to Elvis songs throughout the performance! The kids arrived back tired but happy. I was ready to drop… that walking was not good for my knees!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that on Tuesday, we had another festive-fun filled day, with a little more Christmas choosing, a small class party, where Father Christmas came visiting, then after lunch, the children watched a Christmas film, whilst we tidied up around them, listened to readers and surrepticiously did one to one assessments of the kids! This was peppered with some more joy… I have a new girl in my class. She is Lithuanian, with no English. Apparently, she can say hello, but I have yet to hear that. Anyway, she was perfectly happy, being led around the classroom by two of my helpful girls, then things flipped after break. There is obviously a problem with communication, so we try very hard to make things simple for young children with English as a second language, but this child chose to roar and growl! It took a lot of cuddles and soothing voices to calm her down. But what a first day for her; playing, party, food, then film! The next day, Wednesday, was a half day for the children, and she seemed to be okay for the most part, until she had an. ahem, accident, in my home corner! (thank goodness for disinfectant!) Then the roaring started five minutes before home time. I hope she settles in better in the new year!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that we had a gift opening session on the Wednesday, before the children left for the term, and I have been overwhelmed, once again, by the generosity of the parents and children. From gift sets, to handmade items, chocolates, and biscuits, stationery and beverages, I was humbled.

• If we were sipping chai together I’d say that after a quick tidy up of the room, on Wednesday, and a quick drink with my colleagues, I got home, exhausted, full of cold, and ready for my rest and down time. But is it ever that simple for me? No… My car’s tyre pressure light started to flash at me on Tuesday night, and I knew I needed to go and check it out. But the dark evenings and rain prevented me. My intention was to spend all day on Thursday, my first day off, in bed, recuperating. But no. I started off, after sending Hubby Dearest off to work, by checking the tyres, and filling them with air, then picked up a parcel. Got home and did a bit of laundry, then settled down with my cup of tea, and Netflix on. But my Sky Q box kept playing up. It would intermittently drop the wifi signal, meaning I couldn’t watch anything. I ended up on the phone to their customer services for over an hour, and in that time, had to go up and down the stairs around 15 times, (my knees did not thank me) yet we still didn’t solve the issues. An engineer has been booked to come and trouble shoot, but that won’t happen until mid-Jan! I spent the rest of the day either watching a film, or resetting the Sky boxes… great fun, and not relaxing, at all!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that the rain has been relentless over the last few days, and I was desperately hoping for a dry day on Friday as it was the staff Christmas do. I wanted to get my hair blowdried straight, and I’d already had my Christmas nails done. I had moments of luck, then it would tip it down, but I got ready, then dropped the children off to their grandparents for the night. The do itself wasn’t the best we’ve had. An old pub was the venue, and it was cramped for us. The food was so so, but the entertainment, a band called Roast Dinner – I kid you not – was not really my cup of tea, so just after 9pm, my colleague and I slipped away, preferring a cup of tea to moshing in a dingy basement! We ended up at the only local place that was serving hot drinks… McDonalds! And though we had a pleasant time, I found out the next morning that around an hour after we left, a lad was stabbed there! Jeez, the streets aren’t safe as it is, and neither is McDonalds now…

• If we were sipping chai together I’d have to tell you that Saturday morning was an easy one, as there was no sore head from the night before, or kids to wake us up! After a leisurely lie in, I picked them up, and we ended up doing a little Christmas shopping at Bluewater, before Hubby Dearest and Lil Man went to watch the new Star Wars film, leaving Lil Princess and I to our devices… obviously, more shopping, and there was cake, chai latte and frappuccino involved too…

• If we were sipping chai together I’d push my phone over to you to show you what happened on Sunday… whilst I was tapping away on my MacBook Air, I decided that it was time to sort out my publication date, and not only that, I listed my book on Amazon! So, now I have no excuses! Blurb is written, most documents have been uploaded, and I am just waiting for the paperback cover template, which I should get in January, as it is the festive period! But, it is out there. Pre-order is live, Peeps, if you fancy getting your hands on an ebook copy of Marriage Unarranged, as soon as it is released! Just click this link – getbook.at/MarriageUnarranged . If you fancy a paperback, cover pending, it should be available on the official publication date of 9th February, 2020!

• If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d say that I know the week ahead will be hectic, but fun-filled, as usual! Obviously, there is Christmas to look forward too, and we may have a little visiting arranged for a couple of days too, but I’ll fill you in on that last Monday of the year!

Right, that’s me done Peeps! Let me how your week has been.