December 23 - Lovely

My university students and I had decided to make Monday's lesson, our last before winter vacation, a bit more laid back, so I showed up that day with chocolate, Christmas music, and a lesson plan that wasn't too demanding.
And the students got into the spirit too. All the ladies were on time, but the guys didn't show up until a few minutes after the bell rang. They were late because they had been putting the finishing touches on their costumes. A hip-hop dancer named Akihiro was dressed like Santa, and for reasons that were never explained to me, Katsuya, Satoru, Masaki, Hideaki, and Tomoyuki were dressed as a soccer player, a baseball player, a basketball player, a rugby player, and a culinary school student respectively. It was like they'd decided to have a combined Christmas party and dress-as-what-the-elementary-school-version-of-you-wanted-to-be-when-you-grow-up party.
By the time they arrived, most of the ladies had put on Santa hats, Christmas aprons, and/or reindeer antlers, and everybody insisted I put on this red fish hat they'd brought for me, so I did.
And it was a great class. Any time you have a class with costumes and chocolate, it's going to be good. And on top of that, it wasn't completely unproductive. The students had book circle discussions of A Christmas Carol, and we read about various Christmas urban myths and tried to guess which ones were true and which were false. It was fun.
But then with about five minutes left in class, Akihiro Claus stood up suddenly and said he was leaving, that our Christmas party was a humbug.
The rest of the guys chased him down and begged him to stay, telling him they needed to celebrate Christmas together for Andy sensei's new baby daughter.
His baby daughter? he asked.
Yes, his lovely daughter Maya, they said.
And then Satoru the baseball player sang the first line of Isn't she lovely.
And then Masaki sang the next line.
And then Katsuya the next.
And Hideaki the next.
And then the whole class got up, clapped their hands to the beat, and sang the whole song, verses, chorus, and all. Hideaki and another student named Sayo broke out guitars and strummed along, and another student, Rika, played a harmonica solo in the middle.
And it was fantastic. If it had been something I'd seen in a movie, I would have rolled my eyes at how obviously ridiculous it was, because stuff like that doesn't happen in real life. And yet there it was happening in my class. I laughed and clapped along and tried to remember it as clearly as possible so that later on I could tell my wife Misako about it.
Wait, Misako!
There was still a little time left over in class. I asked the students if they would sing it again as I called her on my cell phone.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
And then it went to voice mail, so I introduced the class to her, and they did the whole song again for her voice mail, and it sounded even better the second time.
When class was over a minute later, they gave me (well, they gave it to me to give to Maya and Misako) a big floral arrangement. Then the next class's students came in and gave us more flowers, and then a group of students I'd taught last year crowded in and gave me a card they'd all signed.
It was amazing, almost overwhelming. It took every bit of concentration I had to not get choked up and ruin the moment by blubbering like a teary eyed jackass.
Seeing all their cheery faces and knowing they'd done all that for me and my family is something I don't think I'll ever forget. It was a lovely start to the week before Christmas, and a reminder that I've got a pretty fantastic job.