Sunday, February 9, 2025

I Was Thinking... A Country Christmas

My education began in a one room school in rural Northeast Wisconsin. It was the same school my grandfather and father attended. This one room school was typical of so many rural schools across the upper Midwest.

There was one teacher, students in eight different grades, and anywhere from 20 to 35 students depending on the school. There was almost always a picture of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and of course an American flag in all of them.

For several years, the bathroom facilities were two outhouses on the back of the school property. We were taught the basics, reading, math, social studies, science and occasionally a little music and art. Physical education was what we did at recess and noon hour.

But one of the most enjoyable times of the year was the time leading up to Christmas.

Almost all the rural one room schools had a tradition of putting on a Christmas program. This involved weeks of preparation and practice. Since you had children ranging in age from 6 or 7 to 13 and 14, it was quite an undertaking to prepare something that included everyone.

One element that was expected then and not very common now was memorization. Everyone had to memorize some lines for their “piece” in the program.

For the little kids, MERRY CHRISTMAS was spelled out with each child holding a big cut out green or red letter and saying what that letter meant. They also were responsible for making the red and green paper chains that decorated the room. Construction paper was cut into strips and pasted together to form the lengthy paper chains.

Older kids had larger lines to memorize for the Christmas program. Often a Christmas play was even performed. Songs had to be practiced but most of them were already well-known. The singers were accompanied by an old upright piano usually played by the teacher. Unlike choirs that sing parts with melody and harmony, everyone was just encouraged to sing out without much concern for the quality of their voice.

The 7th & 8th grade boys were tasked with providing the greenery for the school. One morning, these boys headed out to a local woods with hatchets, axes, and saws to get evergreens for the school. This was done with no adult supervision and probably without the permission of the owner of the woods they would invade. While it took about 20 minutes to secure enough bows for the decorations, they made sure they stayed away until it was time for lunch.

A week before Christmas, several fathers would come in and construct a stage at the front of the room and hang curtains across half the room for a dressing room and staging area.

Regular academic schedules were modified to prepare for the big night. Part of the day was classes and part of it was rehearsal.

The evening of the performance was filled with anticipation and excitement. The little school was packed with all the students’ families including grandparents. At the end, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” was sung and somehow Santa always showed up at exactly the right time and had a brown bag of goodies for every child. These bags usually contained peanuts, an apple, an orange, a popcorn ball, some ribbon candy, chocolate mounds, and huge lumpy chocolate squares of angel candy. Of course, nothing was individually wrapped.

It has been a very long time since those type of programs took place at the many country schools. Today’s large Christmas concerts are directed by trained music teachers and include hundreds of children. While they are probably more expertly done, they don’t provide the type of family ties that that one room schoolhouse programs provided.

 

Did You Ever Wonder? — Why isn’t 11 pronounced onety-one?

 

See full story in this week’s print edition or subscribe online. Please subscribe here or current subscribers can login here.

Dodge County Independent

Dodge County Independent
Dodge County ADvantage
301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

Dodge County Printing
301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

507-634-7503
 
Hours: 
Monday-Thursday 10a.m.-3p.m.