Maybe your school already has regular Lou Malnatis or Buffalo Wild Wings rituals. I hope so.

We are in the old, cold months now. The lights on the trees in the windows have gone out. The fun of shopping has been replaced by the nagging voice of those few items that still need returning. Any scintilla of bloom left on this year’s teaching rose vanished under the latest set of benchmark tests, while colleagues from the Northlands may even now be shoveling snow.

If no one else is putting together after-work functions, I’d like to recommend readers become the driving force behind a Friday trip to the local sports bar. Go eat some wings. Share some nachos. Tell the funny stories from the last week’s teaching adventures. You have funny stories. You just have to enjoy them with an appreciative audience. Even if it’s Tuesday when Marty stuck the pencils in his nose and then wanted to go to the nurse because his nose hurt, there’s a story there somewhere.

What with all the meetings, grading, and prepping, teachers sometimes start hunkering down when what they really need are bright lights, greasy chicken wings and large flat-screen TVs shared with friends and colleagues.

Eduhonesty: Your mission, readers, is to plan an outing for your coworkers or attend one that’s already scheduled. Take some time today to suggest a Friday get-together. Ask your fellow teachers, counselors, or mortuary attendants (I don’t know who you all are…) where they might like to go after work at the end of this week.

I hope I can spread some fun and cheer here. Please pass this post on, too.

P.S. To my non-teacher readers, random January and February parties are for everyone. Maybe you want to call a few friends to check out that new Italian place down the road?