Bald ist Nikolausabend da... English words?

[finknottle]

Ds1 & ds2 have been practising "Lasst uns froh und munter sein... Lustig lustig, tra-la-la-la, bald ist..." for a C'mas party and I'm convinced there's an English version.

Am I imagining things?
It's on my brain and driving me tra-la-la-la-la
Am also supposed to be offering English carols and Christmassy songs so can anyone help with ideas for ones which are easiest to play on the piano? Ds1 is 10.
Oh, apart from Jingle Bells
Thanks

We've had the stomach bug from hell and have been kotz central for days. The school's had the Gesundheitsamt in and teachers are now wielding disinfectant spray. Knocked the boys for 6 and I fear they're now coming down with colds. Shoved them off to school today anyway
Am not mentioning school any more as am festive and jingly. Dec 1st is all go on the lighting and deco front and it's amazing the good behaviour I can wheedle out of dd with the promise of putting shiny gold stars on the windows All by Herself.

fink's law: Advent = Germany wins
Christmas itself = home for the holidays. In the alternate years when we do Heiligabend with ils then C'mas Day here, I cheat and fly home with the little nottles on the 26th for 5 hectic days with family and back for New Year's with dh. Told dh it's not up for discussion re cost.
The C'mas concert was rather a shambles but only our 1st time so don't feel too shamed.

Dd and ds2 still believe in Nikolaus (or my convoluted explanations of it) and get one small present each. Not sure if ds2 will be suspicious re his Shaun The Sheep DVD (bargain on Amazon) and wonder how Nikolaus's elves (my variant) know he has English satellite telly - heh, magic

Hate it when boys are off school sick and I get little boys with a "Krankenpaeckchen" about 4pm (and in one case a teacher fgs) with all class work and homework they missed which has to be done. Luckily ds1's new secondary doesn't otherwise I'd be a mental wreck. Have taken to writing in red pen on ds2's books/worksheets that he was sick and he'll catch up over the next week because my polite Post-It notes weren't enough. The teacher would forget (nice but scatty) and they've a new policy of awarding 6's for late work. And you know what a bad Notendurchschnitt means in Y3...
Sigh.

Morning finknottle, we thought we had scared you off!
My sympathy with the stomach bug - touch wood we have been spared but it is supposed to be going around Berlin too. I always shout 'wash hands before you touch anything' when we get in from school, I'm so scared we'll come down with it. Was in teh theatre the other night with dd'*s class and well over 1000 other children and as the lights went down I was thinking 'Oh god, the brats kids all around me are going to be coughing and sneezing and it'll all get circulated and I'll be ill'
I survived it anyway!

Wow, I wish our school would bring homework and missed work when mine are of ill, we have to go and beg for it!

Takes more than you lot to scare me
No no NO to the school work We're at opposite ends of the spectrum I recall - we're swamped with work. Ds2 regularly has what's supposed to be 1 hr homework a day but can be 45 ins to 2 hrs. Every day Maths, German & Science & looking back at ds1's yr 3, more than he had then.
Luckily dd and ds1 are out till 4 as ds2 and I slog away every afternoon. When there's catch-up stuff it's another hour's hell esp when they start a new theme and you don't really know what you're meant to do.
Plus they have tests the whole time so there's revision on top.
Hate it. They crack through at such a pace.No time to absorb and little to enjoy.

It doesn't seem right somehow does it. I remember my school days were fun, I loved school and I had time to play out every day - we didn't get homework 'til we were 12! Even then it was half and hours worth.

We sit most weekends and do work of some sort and I just keep thinking this isn't right, we should be doing something, out and about. Is all this going to make them little brain boxes? I don't think so. Dh spent all of his childhood with his head in a book, study study and more study (this was India) but his actual broad spectrum knowledge is rubbish - I think becaue he missed out on so much. I was top of my class in my school days and I got through it with minimum effort.

Look at us, 2 posts ago you said you weren't mentioning school and we're at it again!

Lets sing together, Lustig, lustig tra-la-la-la-la.....

Welcome back finky I hope this is the stomach bug we already had and not a new one!

Whilst we're not mentioning school, I'll join in and say I'm planning on prosecuting the Ministry of Education for turning my hair GREY. FGS. Not even my 80 year old grandmother had grey hair.

Current school = no homework but since they are also apparently not actually learning anything at school, you have to teach it all yourself at home, so in effect, we DO have homework.

uzip again: but girls don't you think this whole massive over-dosing of homework and all the stress is something you get everywhere these days? Do you really think it's any different in Ireland, the UK, Australia or France?

You could be right although I know my nieces in UK don't get much homework apart from reading for primary.

My nephews in Bangladesh have to work 'til 10pm to get all their homework done and have extra private lessons at the weekend. But that's because later, at university they sometimes have 800 pupils applying for a subject that has 300 places. You only get in if you have straight A's in all subjects.

I know - and we're on an even-ish keel with school atm Ds1's so happy at his new school & ds2's coping in Y3 but he's not enjoying it - this relentless pressure is poisoning the whole experience of learning. That's what I object to most.

Have just got big box from Tchibo with my Christmassy tablecloth so am off to see if it fits our dining table which is somewhere under 3 tons of tat & tinsel.

Did I mention my mil invited herself, pil & bil to us for C'mas this year? Horror of horrors. Am going to need industrial amounts of gin. You think I can witter on about schools? You ain't heard nothing yet, oh no sirree
Taster: "Du sollst jetzt nur (sic) Deutsch mit den Kindern sprechen. Du sprichst es mittlerweile ganz ordentlich."

One good thing I have to say about Germany is I don't have a mil here. In fact that's one of my criteria when I'm choosing a country to live in!

Tell them, God, I'd love to, I love the language but you know how it, they haven't a hope of getting a university place these days without excellent English.

THey have nice stuff at Tschibo, don't they? I usually get my Christmas tablecloths at Plus (hate the shop but it's 5 minutes walk away). Everytime I find out Tschibo has something I'd like, it's sold out before I get there!

I took the tchibo table cloth back home to UK last christmas they havethe same one out this year in the shop, and quite a few decorations. They do seem to have nicer decorations here. Half of the Cristmas tree back home is decorated with German bought things from Weihnachtsmarkt or even Plus!