Joy

I am filled with an unquestionable joy. I noticed something today in Sainsburys while I was doing my 100th shop for my Christmas Party on Saturday: families were together and happy and gathering in their Christmas goods... gathering almost as though it were harvest time. It was lovely to see. I caught the eye of a daddy with his hyperactive little girl who was standing up in their shopping trolley, trampling all over the food they’d just bought with her shiny black sandals, and he grinned at me. I realised then that I had been walking along smiling.

I have had a wonderful day. At school we have a brilliant system called Buddy Groups, whereby a Year 3 girl is adopted by a Year 4 girl who, in turn, is adopted by a Year 5 girl and so on. The result is groups of twelve children who span all the year groups at school. I am one of the Buddy Teachers and have my own group of a dozen children to look after throughout the years they are at school. Today’s end of term task was to make a Christmas Wreath together. Once we were all gathered to begin the challenge, I explained that we couldn’t start until we had all put some kind of ridiculous Christmas decoration on our heads... the sillier the better and it had to stay there for the duration of the task! The barriers were down, everybody was laughing and then I put some jazz on. We tapped our feet and grooved through the hour, with a division of labour that was second-to-none! And... WOW! The Wreath is stunning! Quite the most beautiful home-made creation I have seen. Clever little things.

And then to come home to begin my own afternoon of culinary creations was a treat. I made 48 mince pies, mayonnaise and fridge cake, and cooked a huge ham in cloves and pineapple. The house smells wonderful and Benjamin Britten’s Carols were ringing out for me too.

I cannot wait for my friends and family to be filling my home and celebrating Christmas with me on Saturday.

Happy.