The day all pupils looked forward to after exams was the vacation, the last day of school popularly known as “Our Day”.

When exams was over and teachers were busy marking and recording exam scripts, we used papers to design all kinds of objects to decorate our classroom. The good artists in class drew scenes from the birth of Christ that we glued against our class walls.

On the blackboard was written the number of days to vacation. 3 DAYS MORE!! 2 DAYS MORE !!…

The day before Our Day, most pupils sang excitedly on their way home : Tomorrow tomorrow Our Day!… Tomorrow tomorrow Our Day!…

By this time, the pupils who assisted our teacher in recording the exam results in our terminal report cards would have known who was first, second and third in class and leaked the information that set everyone murmuring. As for Raphael and Castro, their positions were known to everyone even before exams started: Last and last but one respectively.

Then came the D-day.

We were allowed to wear our Christmas dresses to school. All over town, pupils carried baskets of food and drinks to share with teachers and friends.

In class, we arranged our desks in a semicircle. In the middle stood our teacher and above us were our paper decorations. From nearby classes and from those afar we could hear various Christmas carols.

It was now time for the main reason of the day. we closed our eyes as our teacher led a short prayer. Shortly after that, the feast began. On the teacher’s table were lots of gifts from generous pupils and parents. The mean teachers received few gifts. Our teacher noticed some pupils came without food and shared some of his gifts with them.

After eating, we roamed, played and danced all day till the teacher sent someone to summon us to class for the collection of our terminal report cards.

Before dispersing, an assembly of the entire school was convened. The headmistress announced the reopening date even though it was written on our report cards. She encouraged us to be good kids so our parents would continue to pay our fees when school resumed.

“Now school is dismissed.” the headmistress announced, and in all directions we charged, amidst screaming and yelling goodbyes to old friends and new ones alike.

In class, before picking up my basket and other things I brought, I stood for a while, thinking about all the things I would do during the holidays. All that was on my mind was food and animation movies…