SCHOOL CONCERTS

     I don't know about your end of the world but here at one time the school Christmas concert was the highlight of the school year. Now I realize that in many areas, Christmas is not celebrated but here it is. There are many traditions. I'm going to tell you about one tradition. 

    When I grew up in the forties, much of western Canada was very rural. Because of methods of transportation and distances, the one room country school was the major school organization. 

    So in these country schools the school Christmas concert was the major event of the year. 

    What's a school Christmas concert? It's a concert put on by the teacher and his/her  students. In the school I went to the highest enrolment was 17. 

                           In this photo I'm the little beaner on the far right  at the bottom. I was in gr one. I have my head twisted .

       In this photo I was in Gr. 3. I'm right behind the teacher on her left. 

    With a combination of music, skits, plays, drills and recitations all students were included in the performance. For these isolated areas it was entertainment and they saw their kids perform. 

    A farmer would go to town and the lumber yard would lend him planks to make a small stage and seats. Stage curtains were made from bedsheets brought from home.

    Finally the big night came and the show went on. All the time there was great excitement as the kids knew Santa Claus would come at the end of the show. They also knew that Mom and Dad were watching as well as the rest of the district. They were nervous. The teacher gave each kid a present and students chose names and gave the kid a present . The school board gave each kid a bag of candies, nuts and an orange. 

     With some good visiting, finally everybody went home

    Many stories about these concerts went on for years. My brother and I were teamed up to do a little drill to music. We were elves and had paper costumes and shoes. During the performance my brother stepped on a tack. When he stopped the routine he said, "I stepped on a tack." Loud enough for the audience to hear. I went over and pulled out the tack and we completed our act. Mom and Dad laughed about this for years. 

    Many schools still have some form of Christmas program but it has changed. There are no small rural  schools anymore.

    So at this time of year I look back at the wonderful Christmas concerts. In my teaching we'd have all kids go to the gym and we had music and then the kids were dismissed for the holidays. So some of the exciting things like Santa Claus didn't happen. 

    Merry Christmas everybody. 

THE OLD LIST ON THE WALL

    I keep a list taped to the desk of possible topics for blog posts. I found that if I didn't write them down I would forget all my great ideas.

    Well, my list doesn't have any topics on it at this time. I've been too busy lately to think of things and write them down. I have a series of posts I will do after Christmas. 

    Christmas is a busy time and activities crowd out times to contemplate blog posts. So in the next few days: Friday I volunteer from 1 -5 looking after the Nature center book store stall in the mall. It's fun to meet people and sell a few books. People like to drop by and talk about things they see outdoors. 

    Saturday I have a coffee and cake do with the birders I lead every Saturday afternoon. We enjoy our Saturday outings and everybody looks forward to sitting down and remembering the fun we had. Saturday evening I see a performance of the Christmas Carol put on by one of the local high schools.

    Sunday is the Christmas bird count. I'm out from 9:30 to 11:30 and then come home for lunch. In the afternoon I'm out from 1:30 -3:30 . I have two areas that I cover and have covered the same areas for about 40 years. 

    Sunday evening we have a potluck supper with all the bird counters. It's a fun time to share bird count activities.

    We've also had a lot of running around to do at this busy time. One example is that the sieve the Micro manager uses in baking came apart so since there was still more baking to do we had to find a sieve. So you know that finding a sieve with the micro manager will be a marathon. She wanted a sieve like the old one. Well boo hoo! They don't  make them like that anymore.

    Today we did find a sieve so there will be more baking.

    So being busy is part of the season and makes for an enjoyable time. But I will enjoy peace and quiet once Dec.  25 arrives. 

    Christmas bird count territory.

Christmases Past

       My friend Willis, who I finished high school with, posted on face book the other day that his tree was decorated and things in the house were fixed up for Christmas. So, Willis was sitting back in his easy chair thinking about friends and "Christmases past".

       So even though we are elderly we still act like high school students and never miss a chance for a friendly dig. My comment on his face book post was "Ya, that's a lot of Christmases!" Like, you're old!!

       Well, I got thinking about Willis's comment. Yes, it's many Christmases. In my case 76 of them. The first ones I don't remember. However, I do remember the Christmases when I was a child and safe in the care of my parents.  They made Christmas interesting with baking, decorations, gifts and very festive meals. We also had community and church festivities. Christmas day was a long day of good food and visiting with neighbors and friends.

       In my late teens I was not tied as closely to family and spent more time in the holidays with friends. Once I left home the time for Christmas with family was shortened. You raced home just in time for Christmas. You missed all the Christmas preparations. Some of the excitement was gone as now you were an adult.

       Then came the first time I was not able to be home for Christmas. I was in the Arctic with many other young single people who were away from family. The 30 of us in the residence, got together and prepared a very festive meal. I'm sure many of us were thinking about home, but we had a very good time.

       Next, a new pattern was formed when I married. Problem! You can't get to both parents for the holidays so what do you do?  A couple of those dilemmas were solved when my wife had to work.

      When you have children of your own you start making your own traditions for the holidays. There's excitement about decorations, gifts, stories, songs and a special meal. Many of the things I did were what I learned from my parents.

       My kids live far away from me and they don't get home for Christmas. They have their own kids to make traditions.

      So , yes, we do have great memories and friends formed around Christmas. As we age the celebration of Christmas changes. Celebrations change with the times. 

     Now matter what, Christmas is a joyful time of the year.

     

The Hush of Christmas Eve

     All my life I have sensed a certain hush, quietness and peace as Christmas Eve approaches and takes place.

      As a child we were busy before Christmas preparing for school  and Sunday school concerts. At home there were furious preparations in the baking department. Gifts were on display and our little attentions were drawn many times in great expectation. So the time leading up to Christmas was busy and terribly exciting for a little boy. It was magic.

     In that era and the location we lived in, life was much simpler. We had one small country store that didn't have electricity. No bright lights there. Our transportation was via two ancient farm horses. They may have attained the blinding speed of four or five miles per hour. There wasn't a traffic jamb or great amount of traffic noise.. only the harness squeaking and slapping and the horses hooves crunching in the snow. No clip clop of horse shoes or fancy rig... just a farm type bob sleigh and box. This form of transportation was slow and quiet. 

     Even though our life was very quiet there was still the hush and quietness of Christmas Eve. It was noticeable even for a little boy.

     After high school I've spent most of my life in an urban area. Yes, roads had been improved so that cars could be used for transportation although there wasn't a lot of traffic. Much brighter lighting came with the supply of electricity. Christmas was more commercialized. I would make my way home to the farm and sense the hush of Christmas Eve. 

    Later I had my own children and experienced their concerts and excitement of Christmas. I relived the same experiences of excited children. I became involved in preparing for Christmas. Stores were still not open in the evenings. Evenings were still quiet. We received our son by adoption three days before Christmas. We were not planning to go home for Christmas and my wife was booked for shifts over the holidays. We decided to surprise Mom and Dad and go home for Christmas with their new grandson. About three hours from our destination we ran out of milk. We thought there'd be no problem to pick up milk as we went through the city. Wrong. Everything was closed for Christmas Eve.. We finally got some milk in a restaurant that was open.

    Since I was a teacher the school time up to Christmas holidays was hectic concerts, exams excited kids. Christmas Eve really did seem peaceful.

    Now the stores are open evenings seven days a week. We seem to have to have many cars and drive them constantly. There's a constant roar from traffic. Brilliant lights are everywhere.

    I still sense the hush of Christmas Eve. 

   So this Christmas Eve I hope that everyone senses the hush and peace no matter how or if they celebrate Christmas. It would be my hope that we find peace in ourselves , person to person and with all other people on this earth.

Today's School Christmas Concert

        Last evening I was occupied by one of my volunteer activities...front of house duty for the local Arts Center. Being December many school Christmas concerts are held in this fine facility. So I thought back to my previous post of the Christmas concerts put on in days gone by.

        Last night one of the local high schools put on their concert.The concert was made up of a offering of their choral groups and various bands.

         First, they had the choral group and jazz choir perform.

         Next, the grade nine band and jazz band strutted their stuff.

      After the intermission the heavies took the stage...the symphonic winds band. A dance group performed one number with the band. For a finale the band and choral groups performed together. The house was packed with admiring parents and excited students were pacing around the building. Both groups had a right to be excited and proud. It even infected me!

       These kids put on a fine performance of seasonal  and non seasonal music. The students have been in a band program for three years before they hit high school so they have experience to work with. The musicianship is of high quality. Music teachers are much more highly qualified as they are very active in professional development. A very active parents group assists the music program.

     Of course along with the hype there were all kinds of draws made after people laid down their cash for "winning tickets."

      So hats off to all the enthusiastic young performers, teachers and parents. You are doing a fine job.

   

Old Time Christmas Concerts in One Room Country Schools

        Yes, I am old enough to have been in a Christmas concert in a one room country school. In fact, I performed in eight Christmas concerts.

       One of my fellow bloggers has touched on these concerts. I like reading local histories. The local history from my area is full of comments about school Christmas concerts. People have many reasons for looking back at these performances with nostalgia. For many kids the evening was extremely exciting. Others took great pleasure in their performances. Others liked the activity of preparing for the concert. Some teachers were masters in producing an excellent concert and getting amazing performances from young kids. Many teachable moments occurred during the preparation for these concerts.  Kids learned music, set design, dance, acting and a ton of self discipline. Kids gained confidence from performing in front of an audience. Kids received positive feedback. As a result of the good old school concert much learning and growth took place. The teacher probably aged prematurely.

       My memories of school Christmas concerts is pretty sparse. I remember being in a small "drill " with my brother when we were in grade one and two. We were in elf costumes that were made from construction paper. Brown paper shoes and green hats. When our spot was on the concert we went out and the music played. During the performance one of us stepped on a thumb tack. We stopped. One little fellow raised his foot and the other took out the tack and then we continued. The piano player had to adjust and play a few more bars for us to complete our routine. Our parents to their deaths always remembered and laughed about our performance. Parents were always excited and proud of their childrens' performance.

     Other things I remember is that regular classes ceased during the three or four weeks of preparation. Sometimes it was boring as the teacher worked with other kids practising their parts. Sometimes I got into trouble while having nothing to keep me occupied.

    Now I was also old enough to teach in a one room country school. I went out to teach in an isolated school before I had my nineteenth birthday. There were ten students in this school. I knew that parents expected the teacher to put on a Christmas concert. I was petrified as had not a clue what to do and had little talent in music and performance. The school board was wise and extremely thoughtful. They came to me well before concert time and said let's not have a concert. We would rather have the kids stick to the curriculum. Whew!!! They decided to have a little celebration the last afternoon of school. They brought lots of goodies and made a big boiler of coffee. All parents and preschool children attended as well as some people in the district who did not have children in the school. The kids exchanged gifts and were given gifts from the school board. Everybody had a great time and went home happy. It would have been very difficult to put on a concert as out of the ten kids three of them were grade one. The teacher in Louisville school in 1958-59(me) learned more than any student that year. These people also gave me so much support that I decided to return to university and get a teaching degree.

     So my Christmas concert experience was from two points of view.  I know that I enjoyed both sides of the fence and learned from my experience. I also have some very pleasant memories to look back on.

     Please feel free to tell me about your Christmas concert experiences. I'd love to hear about them.