Starlight. Candle-bright.

Starlight.  Candle-bright.  Evening comes in quiet echoes of times gone by.

Gathered around the table we share our memories of other Christmases.

Loved ones whose faces are missing from our gatherings.  Perhaps for merely days or months, perhaps for many, many years.  Each one remembered fondly, tears glistening in our eyes for a minute and then quickly brushed away.

Starlight. Candle-bright.  Expectation for the day ahead.  Excitement around the tree.  One gift and one gift only to be opened on this night before Christmas.  Which one shall it be?  A small one just to satisfy the child in you.  And leave the rest for the festive celebration tomorrow.

Starlight. Candle-bright.  Put on the jacket to guard against the cool wind blowing from the west.  Walking down into the field and looking up to see twinkling lights above.  How was it on that first Christmas Eve?  Shepherds watching.  Angels appearing.  Glory shouted from the heavens.  But now, here we stand hushed and still, waiting, waiting, waiting....

In the starlight with candles bright shining through the windows.  

Peace.  Peace on earth to men everywhere.  That is what we are waiting for.

Today we cut the Christmas tree....

Today we cut the Christmas tree.  A thin frosty rime still lay in the shadows of the house and barn.  But armed with saw and gloves we climbed down the hill and brought it home, held shoulder high.

Today we cut the Christmas tree.  The red-tailed hawk sat on his accustomed branch, unblinking, but yet approving our choice.

Today we cut the Christmas tree.  It sits unadorned, waiting for lights and decoration.  In the field it still was beautiful, just as it was.

Today we cut the Christmas tree.  I plucked bronze oak leaves from its branches and sent them blowing in the easterly wind, down the hill and far away.

Today we cut the Christmas tree.  A little burrow of some small creature lay exposed where once the cedar branches sheltered it.  What will the dispossessed do now, out there with the snow and cold reaching into its home?

Today we cut the Christmas tree.  It will stand guard by the door, lights shining out into the night. They can't compete with stars twinkling above.  But they will welcome one and all to our hilltop.

Today we cut the Christmas tree.  And after the festive season is done ,we will take it down and carry it, held shoulder high, down the hill where first it grew.  And it will rest there with its brothers, telling stories of when it sat upon the hilltop and shone brightly for all the world to see.

Today we cut the Christmas tree. 

Kids and Christmas Programs

I have been reading the memories that many of our Ozark County citizens have of school programs from their childhood days, especially those from one room schoolhouses.  What fun!  I know something about putting on a Christmas program with young kids.  It is a challenge.

Many of you from Gainesville remember the old Elementary School.  This is where most of my memories come from.  For a month or more before the program the music department, band and vocal, were practicing their pieces.  I could hear most of this from my room up above the cafeteria where the band practiced in the afternoon.  The music room was on the other side of the basement hall so that wasn't so noticeable. 

Every music teacher wanted their program to really be the best there was.  Beccie Farmer McGee really went all out with hers.  I am not forgetting the others, but Beccie's are the ones I really remember.

They were always stories about Christmas things.  From Kindergarten to 6th grade, all of the students were rehearsed and re-rehearsed, as only Beccie could do.  She was a perfectionist.   And elaborate.  Sometimes I wondered how she was going to pull it off, but she did

My job, being in a classroom just off the stage( the old typing room for those of you who attended High School there), was to herd the cats...errr, children.....around and onto the stage. And to get them in place before the curtain opened.   It was a job that got more complicated as time went on.  

First of all, how do you lead 30 or so Kindergarten children dressed as Christmas trees onto a stage that is already crowded with decorations.  The answer?  Very carefully.  I ended up carrying the last two in my arms and depositing them bodily in the back row.  Psst...don't forget to smile for mom and dad!

Other classes were led outside and around the building and put in the cafeteria.  Quiet was of the essence.  Sure.  Let's see.  Put several classrooms of second,third and fourth graders all together, just before Christmas, in a large and may I say, echoing room.  And expect them to be quiet?  I think not.

Anyway, we did our best.  Teachers, aides, and others trying mightily to be in control.

Class by class we would line them up and bring them up the stairs...shh..quietly..and lead them on to the stage at the appropriate time.  A challenge, but we did it to Mrs. McGee's satisfaction, I hope.  

One thing that made it all worth while for me was seeing our kids transformed from jeans and t-shirts, into little princesses in best dresses, with their hair combed and sometimes curled...not to mention the boys in clean pants, sometimes a shirt with a tie, and hair slicked down on their heads.  

After the last song was sung and line was given we were all thankful it was over for the year.  Oh wait...how about the spring concert?  At least that was a few months away.  And we could be glad that the Christmas program was done...at least until next year.  Fun memories to last a lifetime, for sure.