I taught school for 30 years. And for each and everyone of those years the smiling faces of the little children on Christmas Concert night was the one thing bound to awaken in me the Christmas spirit.
For sure there were other festive things that did the same thing - my own children's excitement, Christmas lights, decorating the tree - but Concert night cemented it for me. Their sweet voices some melodic and sweet, others brash and bold singing their songs; the pretty dresses and special hair-dos for the girls and buttoned shirts, ties and slicked back hair for the boys; the smiles and applause of the audience members... Who could be a Grinch or a Scrooge after a night like that!?
I will never forget the feeling of relief when the last strains of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" faded. Neither will I forget some very memorable events like watching a Kindergarten student stuff all of her very voluminous dress into her tights as Mr. King delivered his closing remarks. Hey! Who could blame her, he did have a tendency to be longwinded when he had a captive audience! Oh the memories!
Since my retirement - it has been 8 Christmases since my Kindergarten class sang "Christmas in the Harbour" - finding the Christmas spirit has been a hit or miss each year. My precious babies have grown up and become world travellers. British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, England, France, India, Nepal, China, Ethiopia have all been home for one or the other for Christmas morning. And to paraphrase Simani, "Christmas is not Christmas if the family's not here!"
Well this year was looking pretty bleak, Ryan and Raisa in Ethiopia, Erin and Liam (and their one day off) in China, Mark and Des in Jamaica, Matthew, Mel, Natalie and Agathy in Alberta. Bleak indeed. Despite the outside lights and the decorating inside I was having a very hard time finding the ho ho, jing, jing jingling, bells on bobtail ring feelings. I even tried baking! Ate the entire cake... Nothing.
I pinterested the heck into my Christmas decorating... Zilch. I dug out my 34 year old elf and perched him on the mantle... Na-da. Bleak, bleak, bleak.
Last night we had tickets for Celtic Christmas. And upon arrival in the centre I realized I had bought those damn awful floor seats FF and not row F. Grumble, grumble ( me, not Paul) ... Not a great start to the night. Tight seating and neck strain, not good. Then something magical happened. One of the first songs of the night was a song Arthur wrote about Christmas at Uncle Joe's. I didn't have the pleasure of meeting my father-in-law but through Paul's stories and photos and clips of his appearances on "Land and Sea", I feel like I have known him all my life. And that's who the song is about. I have heard it before, own the CD even, but last night it did what our primary school children did for me for so many years. Now as most of you well know, Con and Arthur O'Brien are as far from cherubic school children as anyone can possibly be, but that song oiled the rusty hinges and before the night was over the gates swung wide open. I sat there and listened to Con's magnificent rendition of "Oh Holy Night" and was transported back in time to the Christmas Eve service when 9 year old Erin melted our hearts with her performance of the same. Fred Jorgenson's song of Christmas on the Burin Peninsula, took me back to the very few but precious Christmases I spent with my grandparents before my grandmother's dementia tore our world apart. And then Con sang the song that made me tear up... Yeah I admit it ... I bawled... "Heading Home for Christmas".
And I realized how lucky I am to have these wandering children of mine. How truly fortunate I am that they are happy and healthy even if they are far from home for yet another Christmas. Maybe there will be a year when with babes of their own, they head home for Christmas. After all, isn't that what Christmas is all about? Hope for the future, thankfulness for the past and pure enjoyment of the here and now.
It's here folks! It's here! It will soon be Christmas and the spirit of Christmas is alive and well in my heart! Thank you Con, Arthur, Fred and your sidekicks! Drop by the trailer next summer! I own you one!
Now I think I had better go make another cake... Might even enjoy this one!
Lots of Love From Lethbridge... Drop in for some of that cake before it's all gone!
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