Miss Henderson's class, 1958, Simon Fraser Elementary School, Vancouver, B.C. Canada.December 16 - Christmas at School
What did you do to celebrate Christmas at school? Were you ever in a Christmas Pageant?
School Days…school days…this question drew almost a complete blank from me. Since I’ve never liked ‘performing’ in public, maybe my mind has just closed off embarrassing memories. (Hope they don’t come back in some middle-of-the-night-mare!) I do remember some school events I was in, but for school Christmases, I only remember singing carols with my elementary school classes and with the high school choir. I dimly recall Christmas concert scenes and, even better, receiving candy canes. Wonder what my brother remembers? He’s a bit more outgoing!
Organizing carol singing must have been a challenge in my elementary school, as many children were just learning English and English was then the ‘only’ language for school. Most of the teachers, though, I understood, wanted to work at that particular school. A few were definitely eccentric, but I owe those ones the most, Miss Henderson here, for example.
I was a very early reader, but I don’t think I appreciated the ‘sound’ of words till being in Miss Henderson’s class. She could recite poems and, in class, she often did. She made us do this too. I don’t recall her singing, but I’m sure she saw to it we were word perfect before Christmas. I remember she had us do eye exercises to strengthen our sight, and was she the ‘every day in every way I’m getting better and better’ teacher? I think so. (Seems she was way, way ahead of her time there! But that’s from Émile Coué’s work [1857-1926]. ) Alas, some of the bricks behind us in this photo are all that’s left of my elementary school building – it was torn down some years ago; a ‘modern’ building replaced it.
As for carols, we sang all the obvious ones – from “Jingle Bells” to “O, Holy Night”. (No idea then that hymns might be offensive to some.) I know we sang some ‘newer’ songs – like “Here Comes Santa Claus” written by Oakley Haldeman and Gene Autry (my very, very favourite movie cowboy. Jay Silverheels was next, but he didn’t sing). I had no idea till writing this that 2007 is the 60th anniversary of that song (and the Gene Autry Centennial).
Peace on Earth! It’s Winter Solstice today!
Links:
Gene Autry’s Cowboy Christmas: http://www.autry.com/clubhouse/christmas/index.html
‘Christmas lights synchronized to "Here Comes Santa Claus" by Gene Autry’, from pqholidays, on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5-OC_5rksk&feature=related
See the full Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories here: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/
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