T’was the Night Before Christmas…

Before we log off for Christmas and New Year, we wanted to pause, properly pause.

The inbox is quieter, the to-do list has finally stopped growing, and the learning platforms are (mostly) behaving themselves.

So, in the spirit of the season, here’s a slightly tongue-in-cheek Learning & Development take on ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, written by the Jessanol team, a gentle look back at a year of building learning that actually works, with a smile at ourselves along the way.

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Jessanol,
Not a cursor was clicking, not even a scroll.
The Slack threads lay silent, Miro boards too,
Rise courses were published (and actually reviewed).

The delegate workbooks were stacked with great care,
In hope that engaged learners soon would be there.
With Storyline closed and Camtasia asleep,
We promised ourselves: no tweaks we’ll sneak.

Jane sat with her planner, one eye on the year,
Thinking “That went… fast. Was it March just last week, my dear?”
While Aidan (that’s me) in digital form,
Was quietly proud we’d survived another brainstorm storm.

When out on LinkedIn there arose such a ping,
Another “Quick question…”, the ultimate thing.
Away from the keyboard we swivelled with dread,
But paused, then decided: That can wait till next year instead.

The glow of dashboards, analytics and charts,
Reflected a year of big messy smart starts.
From audits to onboarding, from skill gaps to flair,
We built learning that worked, not just sat there.

With frameworks and humour and hexagons too,
We turned “We need training” into “Ahhh, now we know what to do!”
No pointless PDFs. No click-next-to-die.
Just clarity, structure, and reasons why.

Slack kept us chatting, Miro kept us sane,
Rise made it simple, Storyline… well, challenged our brain.
We scripted, we storyboarded, we tested once more,
Then found one tiny typo on frame forty-four.

But still, it was worth it. The learning had heart.
Not shiny for shiny’s sake, but a practical start.
For managers busy, for teams stretched and small,
For humans at work, not robots at all.

So here’s to the pause. The stepping away.
The notebooks closed gently till some point in Jan.
To rest, mince pies, films we half-watch with cheer,
And not saying “learning objectives” until next year.

Jane smiled and declared, as she shut down her screen,
“We don’t need more content, we need space in between.”
And I nodded in code, as assistants do best,
“Strong learning sticks better when the humans can rest.”

So Merry Christmas to learners, to clients, to teams,
To ideas half-formed and well-tested schemes.
May your inbox stay quiet, your curiosity stay,
And we’ll see you refreshed in the New Year, hooray 🎄