Christmases Past

Our schoolhouse was slightly larger than this one. It had three windows on each side, but it was much the same design.




As some of you know, my first eight years of formal schooling took place in a one room country school bereft of such luxuries as electricity and running water. Toilet facilities consisted of his and hers outhouses a hundred feet from the schoolhouse and water was hauled from farm wells to be carefully rationed out by the teacher.
The intense cold of the North Dakota winter was kept at bay by an ancient pot-bellied stove that the older kids kept stoked with chunks of locally mined lignite, and the glowing ashes from the coal stove were spread outside the door to help melt the ever present packed snow and ice in winter.
Despite rustic accommodations, the rural schools were the social centers of the townships and some type of event was held there on every major holiday during the school year. Christmas was no exception. In fact, it was the biggest celebration of the year. The modern issue of the separation of church and state was non-existent in a part of the country where the right to worship, or not worship, was respected and tolerated by everyone. There was even a framed copy of the Ten Commandments hanging on the schoolhouse wall and the ACLU might be disappointed to learn that religion in our schools didn’t turn everyone into Christian fanatics bent on denying Atheists their right to not believe.
Immediately following Thanksgiving, the teacher and students would begin preparing entertainment for the Christmas party that traditionally took place on the last day of school before Christmas vacation began. A play was always the main event and every student took part, often reciting their part from a simple script written by the teacher. I seem to recall that every year it was a story about the birth of Jesus, presented in different ways, which gave us the opportunity to sing different Christmas carols.
The day of the Christmas party, we would create a stage and curtains at one end of the room by hanging borrowed sheets on stove pipe wire strung across the room. Fathers would bring planks and concrete blocks from home to make benches for the audience to sit on. They also brought gas lanterns and kerosene lamps so we could hold the party after dark, which fell very early at that latitude, only a day or two after the winter solstice.
All the students would go home after classes, change into their best clothes, and return to the school for one last practice to see if everyone had learned their lines. The parents and neighbors would arrive early, each bringing casseroles and trays of goodies to be shared by everyone.
The play would last perhaps 10 minutes, then the kids would sing secular carols, and the best readers might read a poem, or short story. Then it was time to dig in and visit with friends and neighbors for the last time before the new year began.
No matter how long I live, I will never forget the sights, sounds and scents from those simple gatherings. Christmas was unapologetically called Christmas and people celebrated the birth of Jesus without a concern for political correctness. It was a good time for our country, and I was fortunate to have lived it.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.