Prairie Christmas

A Clayton McLain Memorial Museum Project 2006 – 2007

My original intention was to pull a half dozen excerpts from Prairie Christmas to accompany photos of the new seasonal exhibit in the Cut Knife Library. Having never read this compilation before, I didn’t know that would be an impossible task. I tried to just skim through for particular references but, by the end of the first story, I knew I was not going to miss a single word. This book is a treasure.

The memories shared on its pages are amusing or heartwarming or poignant, but always true to the moments being described. The Prairie Christmas Committee recognized the value of documenting these particular stories when they invited people to submit recollections of their early Christmas memories. The result is a wonderful historical overview of Christmas on the prairies, especially in the Cut Knife area, from the 1920s through to the 1950s.

Over the next week, I’ll be sharing excerpts from Prairie Christmas: A Collection of Stories and Recollections, which I’ve organized into some common threads i.e. the school concert, winter travel, Santa, shopping, turkey dinners, and more. Excerpts will be short paragraphs of descriptions, anecdotes, conversations etc. of which many will sound strikingly familiar all these years later.

Here’s a teaser from Russ Stewart:

The preparation for the annual concert started about December 1st and must have been a real challenge for the teacher. All students had to have a part in the program whether they had talent in that area – or not! I always offered to be the stage manager – and pull the curtains! A Scottish lady in the district attempted to teach about 5 boys to dance the “Sailor’s Hornpipe”. The first lessons were a disaster (can’t you picture it?) but the final performance brought some clapping from the audience! Maybe it was our parents!

Russ Stewart (page 59)

First up? Everyone had very vivid memories of their school concerts and many noted that the Christmas season began with concert programming and casting decisions in November or early December.

~ Debbie M.