Category: Museum

PLANNING & REHEARSALS

Seasonal exhibit now on display in the Cut Knife Library, 113 Broad Street.

“My most memorable Christmas took place in the late 30’s. The Christmas Concerts in the one room schools made Christmas unforgettable. We had 3 ½ miles to go to a country school. Thirty to forty kids took part in a two hour program. Santa would arrive with a large bag which he carried on his back. The bag was filled with gifts and bags with candies, apples and oranges.” ~ Francis Busch, page 8

“Mom’s first teaching job in 1940 was at Tweedsmuir, a little country school north-east of Lloydminster. Preparing for the first Christmas concert was challenging because there was no piano and also because a teacher was often judged by the success of the concert… Mom said several of the parents told her it was one of the best concerts they’d had! The following year, the school had a piano and a local lady played for the concert. Mom was making $70.00 a month before deductions and paid the pianist $5.00! ~ Noreen Bullerwell written by Bonnie Ramsay, page 7

“The concert would be coming soon, We each had a part to say.
Some were doing recitations, Others had parts in a play.
A platform must be built – With men helping it won’t take long.
It was exciting to stand upon that stage To practice our dance and song.
The girls would wear costumes, White crepe paper with a bow of red,
Carrying a wand topped with a star And a glitter crown upon the head…
Footnote: … this “Little School House” was called “Garth” school and was situated five miles west of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. That particular Christmas was December, 1936.” ~ Marg Crittall, page 9

“Soon after Halloween, our teacher began choosing dialogues and recitations. Then by mid-November, it was practice for the Christmas Concert. It was a wonderful time – lots of music drills and choruses. We older girls got periods free to make silver wands – stars wrapped with silver paper. (Before aluminum foil!) There were always white crepe paper dresses for the girls and tinsel to be sewn on for halos and gold crowns for ‘We Three Kings’.” ~ Hazel Inkster, page 13

“Then I remember the drills we always did. The girls were all in one – we had frilly crepe paper dresses – usually long. I always felt really dressed up… The boys did another drill but I can’t remember anything about them. It would have been something to do with soldiers I suppose. When I went to school at Wardenville, we were fortunate to have teachers who were excellent pianists so we always had good music for our concerts.” ~ Ruth (Bullerwell) Smith, page 57

“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

“The girls did the musical drills of course. They had to wear frilly crepe paper costumes with bare legs. Us boys never looked at the legs, but we did have pea shooters made from a wooden clothes pin (patented by Barry Robinson) that made them step… This meant that I had to write 500 lines after school. ‘I WILL NOT BRING BEANS TO SCHOOL’.” ~ Jim McEachern, page 17

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Be sure to stop in tomorrow for The School Concert, Part 2. If you missed the Intro to Prairie Christmas yesterday, click here.

If you have any memories of early Christmases in the Cut Knife area that you’d like to share with our readership, please email or add to the comments below. We’ll put them all together in a final blog post in early January.

All excerpts in this Prairie Christmas blog series will have been taken from Prairie Christmas: A Collection of Stories and Recollections published as A Clayton McLain Memorial Museum Project, Cut Knife, Saskatchewan 2006 – 2007. Remaining copies are available for purchase for $10. See the website’s Gift Shop page here.

~ Debbie M.

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.