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Hope this Christmas (Advent at Home)

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 As some of you may or may not know, every year since I have been at my school (all 14 years!), I have composed an original song for the children to sing at the church for our Christmas performance.  It's one of my favourite things I do in the year and to hear our children singing my own song always makes me very proud. As we teach the children, it is important that you learn to write for a specific audience, be that writing instructions for a recipe, a letter to your local MP, a fairy tale story for Reception children, a fanfare for a king and in this case, a Christmas song for a choir or school and I do this as an exercise to show that the learning never stops, nor does the creative process, no matter how old you are and that being a teacher is not all we are- we have skills, interests and hobbies that we do beyond the classroom.  As well as, of course, showing the children I care about them by writing something FOR THEM specifically.  

  Over the years, pretty much every aspect of the Christmas story and our performance has had a song written for it- Donkeys, Mary receiving the message, the baby sleeping, Caesar Augustus and his census, the Kings, the (swinging) shepherds, the innkeepers, the angels, the introduction part, a party song at the end, the message of Love being the best gift etc.

This year, I wanted to write a song of Hope, not aimed at telling an aspect of the Christmas story but to remind people in the year of 2020: you and all of our children and parents to have hope, stay positive, be kind, trust and never give up, no matter how hard things have been or are getting.  It was going to be a surprise that in the last week, I was going to record each class singing a section of it and then I was going to stitch it together and send it to the parents on the last day.
 
BUT, because we were having to stick to bubbles, this wasn't going to be possible so I adapted and was going to just  record it with choir this week (we learnt it last week on Tuesday but I wanted all the quarantining children to be part of the recording) .  Of course, my enforced isolation has put paid to that  and I've been unable to do that. Best laid plans and all that.

However, I still wanted to send the message of hope to all of you so I recorded myself singing and playing it.  No comments, positive or negative on the singing please, it's a little cringy (& a bit strangled cat!)  as it is intended to be sung by a large group of children for maximum impact, not by a slightly embarrassed teacher, trying to play the piano part correctly simultaneously, hoping her neighbours don't hear her!

The message is what is important- there will always be light if you keep it alive in your heart with hope.



Hope this Christmas

It’s been a hard year and we’ve found things changing too much.

It’s hard to see when the hardships and restrictions can all cease.

Times are strange and there’s sadness so

We must stay strong, keep our faith and let’s have

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

It’s been oh so hard, when we we’re lost and oh so lonely,

But we can find joy, if we try to seek it, try to let it shine,

Yes there’s fear but there’s courage, strength so

We must be kind, show our love and always:

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

Keep the hope, keep the joy, don’t give up, share your love, you’ve got to keep that

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

 

 This is part of my 'Advent at Home' post with Ang. 



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