Advent Calendar: Carols and music

When My grandmother was a child she would go over to her cousin Amy's on Christmas day. Cousin Amy enjoyed carols and listening to the kids sing them to her. She inspired the kids by making them feel important and like "grown ups" because she made sure their voice was heard. Choosing what carols to sing in a time when children were supposed to be seen and not heard really empowered my grandma Katie. While they sang carols, cousin Amy played along on her accordion. No wonder cousin Amy made such an impact, who wouldn't be inspired by someone who could play the accordion?

These Christmas music sessions instilled a life long love for Christmas carols in my grandmother. When she started a family of her own they spent Christmas Eves sitting together, enjoying food, and singing carols. One year Grandma Katie decided that the family would sing and act out the "12 Days of Christmas" together. The whole family had a great time laughing at each other and bonding as a family. Apparently, my grandmother got so busy directing the kids and trying to make sure that everyone remembered their parts that she ended up being the one forgetting which part she was supposed to be singing. In the end it didn't matter because they all had a ton of fun "hamming" it up together.

My nuclear family never put a big emphasis on singing with one another, but I think that's only because none of us can actually sing :) It will be interesting to see the role that music plays in my new family. Ben is quite talented when it comes to anything having to do with music. He writes his own music and plays really well by ear. He was even the organist in our church. Unfortunately, he thinks I'm tone deaf. Perhaps everyone else will sing, and I will be relegated to shaking the tambourine or something.

Advent Calendar: School Celebrations in Rural Mississippi and Germany

I have decided to focus mostly on my dad’s side of the family for these posts since my maternal grandmother is already covering that side of the family.

I really enjoyed listening to my grandma Katie tell me how her town celebrated Christmas at school. It felt particularly significant once I made the connection that her memories speak of a time before integration.

She grew up in a rural area of Mississippi during the thirties and forties. School celebrations turned into town celebrations inviting everyone to participate. Each family would contribute a few items to the after school party to make for a wonderful gathering. My grandmother’s family liked to bring pecan pies and cookies. Her brothers would climb up the pecan trees and shake the branches until pecans rained down upon the girls below. The girls would then pick up all the pecans and carry them home. At night they would stay up and shell the pecans, so their mother could bake with them during the day. My grandmother's mom (aunt) would chop all the nuts and turn them into delicious treats. They even grew their own peanuts, which they would make peanut brittle with and take to the party.

At the party everyone enjoyed the many delicious Christmas delicacies but the real fun was in the socializing. They participated in several different types of competitive games led by the teacher. They played games like potato sack race, family
board games, and this game where they would have to push an egg from one point to another with their noses. Apparently, games like the egg game were mostly for the boys because the girls were decked out in beautiful dresses. These dresses were handmade and consisted of very heavy fabric. In the absence of polyester, they would use a special kind of brocade silk and cotton to make beautiful winter dresses to adorn the girls with for this special occasion.

As for me, my earliest memories of school holiday celebrations are from my time living in Germany. We would celebrate Sankt Nikolaus day in early December. We would listen to the story of Sankt Nikolaus and leave our shoes lined up in the school hallway. Later when we went to get our shoes Sankt Nikolaus would have filled our shoes with candy and trinkets.

As I got older school holidays were getting phased out, so I don’t have too many memories of school holiday celebrations. I do remember that some of the schools I went to had a special store that the kids could go into and buy presents for family members. The gifts weren’t anything extravagant and were actually on the cheap side, but it made us feel happy to pick out gifts all by ourselves.