Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas (OK the day).........and all through the house.....

Just popped by to spread a little Christmas cheer!

I've been busy - shopping, making, wrapping, hanging, delivering, caring and loving. Oh and having some good laughs to boot! My parents had some friends round yesterday and they were reminiscing about their old teaching days - so many stories to make you smile.....please forgive whatever is lost in the telling - I really need to develop my skills as a creative writer....

Late 1940s when my dad was at high school they had a PE teacher , Mr Arrow, who lived about 20 miles from the school on the outskirts of Glasgow. One day his car was stuck in reverse gear so he drove the whole way home backwards.......testament I guess to the fact that in the late 1940s there were a whole load fewer cars on the roads.

Early 1960s and my mum is a young teacher in a local school.......it's been a hard winter (much like this year) with lots of frost and lots of snow. The school is high on the moors and surrounded by a long stone wall. This particular day the stone wall (100m of it) collapsed during playtime, luckily it fell away from the playground and not into it....but all the same the headteacher asked all the teachers to do a head count. My mum, teaching 5 year olds at the time, was one short.....she asked around about Little Jimmy to be told by one of the other boys that he was hiding and was scared to come in.....why may you ask was he scared to come in........he'd been playing marbles with his friends and just as he'd flicked his marble to the wall where it hit off, the whole 100m of wall toppled over.....all the older boys had taken great delight in telling him that his marble had knocked down the entire wall......my mum's key comment - oh and he was a red head......trouble those red heads......

Again in the early 1960s, teaching in the same school, one of my mum's friends had a little girl who had an accident in class and made a fairly large puddle beneath her desk (my mum always wonders how such large puddles can come from such small children). Anyway, the school, being used to occasional incidents such as this had a supply of clean underwear etc and the little girl was soon happy again. However, the next day, as the young teacher got on the bus to go home, the young girl got on after her accompanied by her dad. As they went to sit down she spotted her teacher and promptly shouted from one end of the bus to the other "Miss Winter..me dad's got yer knickers in his pocket!"

I keep telling my mum she should write all these down.....

Hope you've smiled just a little in the midst of all the chaos. Have a great Christmas everyone!

PS All names have been changed to protect the innocent!!