Christmas concerts! Ah, the memories.
One of my first memories was from Grade 1 in Port Moody. I remember I was chosen to play one of three angels. But having heard almost everyone else in class being told they would be a “child” in the play, and not wanting to be different, I asked to play one of the children instead of an angel. And so it was that I played the part of a child at the ripe old age of 6.
By Christmas of Grade 2 we were in Squamish. I seem to recall the concert them may’ve been The Grinch who Stole Christmas. Our class had a song to sing. During the concert one of our classmates fainted dead away. Apparently he had been sick but had still come. I seem to recall he had a couple of stitches to his head, but nothing terribly serious. The next school day we all had to make a get-well card for him.
I don’t recall much of other Christmas concerts. Later on, when I was old enough to join Band (Grade 6) then I started being in Band concerts which I thoroughly enjoyed.
In a time before religious pluralism in schools, Christmas was a time of crafts involving a lot of coloured cardboard cutouts of trees and stars, some paper chains, and sometimes even the use of that extra special item, glitter! It also meant a lightened workload generally–funny how just the opposite was true in University, with exams and papers marking the holiday season.
