School Christmas Programs

Attending two Christmas Pageants (for grandchildren, who, of course, were the stars of the shows) yesterday took me back to when I was a child doing that sort of thing. I remember the butterflies in my stomach when my line(s) would come up, and wondered if my calm, cool, grandchildren were feeling anything akin to that. I remember getting the giggles whenever I was nervous -- usually when I was singing with someone. And, I remember the school plays each year. These were in addition to the church pageant, for which we practice during release time.



Practice in school would begin shortly after Thanksgiving and we would take time each afternoon (instead of recess) to rehearse our little one-act plays and our songs that the class would sing. Why is it there is always one child who sings the loudest and is tone deaf?



Anyway, I was also thinking about how the classroom was set up for these performances.



First, each class had 5 rows of 6 desks screwed into the floor, so they were unmovable -- like the one pictured here. I saw on E-Bay today they are going from anywhere from 99 cents to $125.00. I guess it depends on where your value is.

Anyway, in second grade, the teacher's desk was BEHIND all these desks, leave a nice open area in the front of the room for practicing. I think Mrs. Marcantonio liked to be behind us so she could see us, and we wouldn't know whether she was watching us or not.

So, we practiced everyday. Then about three days before Christmas break each class would hold its class play and parents and friends were invited. I liked to see what my classmates' parents looked like, and I knew that my mom was the prettiest of all. I would compare her looks with the other moms and she always came out on top.

The teacher would set up chairs around the room so that the parents could sit and watch our one-act play and listen to us sing (no piano in second grade, just a pitch-pipe to get us started -- which never was started on the right note, as the loudest tone-deaf kid set the tone for the songs). I remember that was the year we learned "Up on the House Top". Was it written in 1950? Also, that was the year of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas".

We were to dress in red and green (Christmas colors). And while we sang secular songs, we always sang "While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night", "Silent Night", and "Joy to the World." I recall the play that year was about a kid who didn't get what s/he wanted for Christmas because s/he has been naughty not nice, but in the end Santa relented and s/he got what s/he asked for.

I don't think I was still waiting up at night waiting for those jingling bells by the time I was in second grade. Who knows, I could have been.

I guess the most vivid picture in my mind of the Christmas plays is my mom sitting along side of the room between Mrs. Lott and Mrs. Hansen, and I was thinking, she was the prettiest of all the moms. So proud!