Christmas decorations.

 We celebrated any holiday that came along with a big production at Christmas. Hours spent at the table in the back of the room where all students, young and old, cut construction paper into strips, glued them into rounds and made paper chains. Streamers out of crepe paper were hung to make a false ceiling. Mr. Whittaker was in charge of hanging the paper streamers and since we didn’t have a ladder he made do. “Okay students you hold the piano while I climb up on top of it to attach the streamers.” 

I remember him stepping up on one of the benches and then while we students held it, he stepped onto the piano, just above the covered keys and from there to the top of the piano. Now he was at least 10 feet tall and the piano was on wheels so it could be pushed into place anywhere in the room. “Slowly now students, don’t push too fast, we have to be very careful.” Armed with hammer and nails he proceeded with the job at hand, he nailed, we carefully pushed and the room took on a festive air. Our eyes wide with excitement, we stood back to get a better look at the red and green streamers now draped across the room. As we let go of the piano, it moved and Mr. Whittaker trying to keep his balance stepped the wrong way into thin air and landed in a heap on the floor, staring up into the faces of his panicked students. Several of us exclaimed, “Mr. Whittaker are you okay? 

 “Of course I’m okay!” he replied as he practically bounced back up, brushed dirt from his clothing and exclaimed “I’m not hurt” and climbed back on the piano to finish the decorating.

 

In addition to decorating we spent many hours practicing our parts for a Christmas skit. When the big night finally arrived, families came bundled in hats, coats, mittens and boots, stomping their way through the anteroom and into the school. “Mom, Daddy, let me hang your coats.” I said, as I proudly led my parents to chairs near the front of the room where they wouldn’t miss a word of the program. I giggled with excitement before my first performance in front of a real audience. 

Students nervous as if they were auditioning for a Broadway play, recited Christmas stories and ended the evening singing “The Night Before Christmas” and “Here Comes Santa Claus” as Santa made his yearly visit, with shouts of “HO HO HO, MERRY CHRISTMAS.” Every student received a small sack filled with candy and nuts, and maybe an orange. We left that night, high from the excitement, shouting greetings of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our friends and neighbors.