Christmas and boredom

Only a week left of school - hurrah! I really could do with a holiday now, I just feel really run down. Now I know what all my teacher friends are on about when they complain about being exhausted by the time it gets to the holidays. And I thought they just liked to moan a lot...

It's been a funny old day today - I don't really have much to do at the moment, since things are winding down for Christmas. I only had one lesson, so I spent all morning translating "Merry Christmas Everybody" by Slade into Japanese, so I could teach it to the kids. I even got the tab off the internet and learnt it on my guitar. I think they liked it, but they were very reluctant to sing along when I got my guitar out - it felt a bit like the class were all watching Rainbow and suddenly the sketch with Bungle and Zippy ended, and on came Rod,Jane and Freddy. And I was Rod, Jane and Freddy. So we sang "Yellow Submarine" instead, which went down a storm because yellow submarine sounds like something rude in Japanese when you sing it quickly.

Other than that, it's been a very quiet and dull day. The only moment of controversy occured when I brought in my advent calendars (see photo below). It was almost like bringing in a bomb. I was surrounded by teachers eagerly asking me questions about the strange and colourful new toys on my desk. "Is it a game?", one asked.

"Sort of", I replied, "but the calendars have religious significance too".

"What is the significance?" he shot back.

And I was flummoxed. "Ermmm,....... it's Christmas! Look, there's chocolates behind each door!", I quickly countered, hoping my ignorance would go unnoticed.

Does anyone actually know what advent calendars are all about? What about the Blue Peter advent crown? Where do they keep the chocolates in THAT? I'm very confused, I need a lie down.