The wait is over. You have been counting down the days, hours and minutes until the end of term and the Christmas holidays and now freedom is finally yours! 

To help you on your merry way this festive season, we’ve compiled a list of advice, hidden in the lyrics of our favorite seasonal songsters:
 

1. Christmas time, mistletoe and wine.  And wine.  And more wine.  All those bottles of Merlot your students have kindly given you as Christmas gifts won’t drink themselves. ‘Tis the season, after all.

2. Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the Yuletide gay. From now on, our troubles will be miles away.  Specifically in the storage cupboard in your classroom, where you “accidentally” locked all of your marking.

3. Christmas time, don’t let the bells end.  Actually do.  They say that every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.  It’s also the case that every time a bell rings, a teacher automatically stands up and says, “books away, chairs on desks”.

4. Do they know it’s Christmas time at all? Yes, there may still be work to do over the holidays, but blink and you’ll miss them. Take the time to relax and unwind, just like your students who have already forgotten about that crucial piece of coursework you set them on the last day of term.

5. When the snowman brings the snow, well he just might like to know, he’s put a great big smile on somebody’s face. Especially yours, as you realise you can spend all day tobogganing instead of trying to coerce Grade 8 into learning something, anything, in the first week back after the holidays.

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