Now, as those of us in the Northern Hemisphere have travelled past the longest night of the year, we begin the fortnight in which we engage in what communities in our cold little island have done for millennia; marking the beginning of our journey from darkness back into light, celebrating the continual fertility of evergreens, the potential for new life, and the restorative powers of fire in heat and light, whether the winter festival was called Yule, Samhain or Christmas.
And this year, before the season is at its end, we will have slipped into the second decade of the 2000s; one fifth of the twenty first century already gone in what seems like the blink of an eye. This year we had no grandchild in nursery or reception; six-and-a-half year old Grandson #2 studiously learned copious lines for his role as a ‘wise man’ in a very traditional nativity play, which seemed far removed from what I once described as ‘the glorious mash up’ of the Nursery Christmas Pageant, just a few short years ago.
It’s been rather a serious year for everyone in the UK this year, and many parents and teachers will enter the new year under a cloud of apprehension about what the 2020s will bring. The nation remains divided in some ways, and the way ahead is uncertain. But there are as many things that unite us as those that divide us; England has been a divided nation before in our long history, and has moved forward through a swiftly changing society to find solution and settlement. The human species has suffered far worse catastrophes, and pulled through by pulling together.
The human experience is never certain; we can never see the end of the road along which we are travelling, neither individually nor collectively. I entered the twenty first century as a forty year old with a sixteen year old and two fourteen year olds; by 2010 they had travelled the world between them, and now, standing on the edge of the 2020s, we have three grandchildren and new family ties to the US. I have published a variety of books, blogs and articles over the past decade and am hoping to spend next year working on my first novel, whilst one of my children was recently and very unexpectedly plunged into a very Warholian ‘fifteen minutes of fame’. In 2000 I could have not predicted any of this. And along the way, like most families in the UK we had some much less pleasant and even shocking experiences, including the loss of people we loved, some far too early, and in harrowing and tragic circumstances.
This is the nature of life, for both individuals and for nations; our lives are marked by both light and darkness, and when the darkness arrives, the greatest comfort we can find is to come together and celebrate what we share. And as such, I wish all on Twitter a very happy festive season. I look forward to debating ideas thoughtfully and courteously over 2020, whether leaver or remainer, left leaning or right leaning, or (with respect to edutwitter colleagues) whether ‘trad’, ‘prog’ or neutral.
We all have so much to look forward to, after all.
And for me, personally, one highlight in the diary already is the Nursery
Christmas pageant 2020. Grandson #3 starts nursery on the second week of
January. As the wheel turns, it comes back to the beginning. And now, at the
dawn of a new decade: Here
Comes the Sun.
This year we again remember the young people we tragically lost in 2017:
This year we again remember the young people we tragically lost in 2017:
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