i PAGE 4 , The Old Christmas Not so very long ago Christmas had an active spiritual meaning, outside of the observances held in the churches. Although Santa Clause and the presents brought de- light and joy to the adults as well as the children, there was deep rev- erence and thankfulness toward God and Jesus Christ. In very few homes today does a person see the story of the Pilgrim- age and the Sacred Birth being read to the children on either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. Oh yes, it is represented by the small fig- urines of Mary, Joseph, the Baby, sheperds, wise men and such. But hasn’t the scene become just an- other thing to be dragged out of the Christmas box from the attic or closet, to be put in one place for about a week, and then to be packed away again for another three hundred and fifty two days? Tommy’s Night Before Christmas T’was the night before Christmas, And Tommy couldn’t sleep. He lay awake listening, Not making a peep. Then all of a sudden, From up on the roof, Come the pattering sound Of a reindeer’s hoof. Another and another Started prancing about, Then next came the sleigh, From which Santa jumped out. Down the chimney went Santa, With his large bag of toys, And reached the bottom With a great deal of noise. Old Santa worked quickly, And before Tommy knew, He’d gone back up the chimney, And away he flew. Tommy heard him shout greetings As he took off in flight; And Tommy called softly, “Merry Christmas, Good Night!” by Linda Nicol 10-6 Dallas Senior High Has Christmas developed to have only a materialistic meaning? Is this the only meaning to be passed down to our children’s children? If the answer is “yes” then this will only be another stepping stone to- ward the goal of our Communistic and atheistic friends. Even though our leaders in our various churches are doing every- thing in their power to prevent this from happening, it is up to us, the majority of the population, tomake the next step and to revive the teach- ings of God and thetrue meaning of Christmas. Gail Kelley Lake-Lehman High School Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is coming And children just can’t wait. Christmas Eve is coming; Now, Santa, don’t be late! Christmas Eve is nearing And boys and girls are gay. Christmas Eve is nearing And Santa’s on his way. Christmas Eve is here now; The night will seem so long. Christmas Day is here now; Let’s sing a happy song. by Dwaine Edwards 6-B Lehman Elementary Santa’s Little Elves Santa’s little elves Are helping him today, To fill up all his shelves With toys for Christmas Day. Santa’s little elves Are filling up his sleigh With toys that you and I Will get on Christmas Day. Santa’s littie elves Have done their jobs this year To bring to every boy and girl A lot of Christmas cheer. by Dwaine Ann Edwards 6-B Lehman Elementary Christmas to Me Christmas to me is a wonderful time The new falling snow and the bells own sweet chimes The stores all aglow with tinsel and light I'll go shopping for presents from morning till night For Daddy and Mother and brother, Dave, too Only the very best presents will do And last but not least, a heart full of love To the wee baby King who looks down from above by Barbara Bates 6 Noxen Elementary Arranged To Simplify Your Shopping — SPECIAL TABLES 10c 50¢ 1 4 GIFTS EASY TO SELECT!!! Other Gift Suggestions To $10.00 5c BEN FRANKLIN 10¢ CHURCH STRees Alexanders’ Christmas Alexander just couldn’t get to sleep. It was Christmas Eve and she was so excited. “Tomorrow,” she had told her Uncle Niklas that afternoon, “I will have my very own horse.” Alexander Johan was the only child of Isabella and Ludwig Johan. They had come from Sweden with Niklas Johan, Alex- ander’s uncle, four years ago in 1856 when Alexander was six. Ludwig was a big man who tried to farm his acre of land with great profit, but there was never a good crop no matter what he did. The Johan’s lived in a two story log cabin in North Dakota. It had four rooms, a kitchen and living room down stairs and two bedrooms up- stairs. Ludwig had made the furni- ture himself. Niklas Johan was better off than his brother. It seemed his crops just couldn’t fail to produce bountifully. Niklas loved little Alexander and hoped his surprise would arrive on Christmas. She had talked to him of nothing but the horse she was getting, which she just knew she would get. Finally Alexander drifted into a fitful sleep, but instead of having visions of sugarplums dancing in her head, there was a white horse prancing about. At the first sign of light, Alexan- der jumped out of bed and went as fast as she could down the rickety ladder. Though it was very cold she didn’t bother to light a fire, in- stead she went to see the Christmas tree, which was poorly decorated with strings of popcorn and holly, but to her itwas beautiful. Under the tree was one present for her. Asshe was about to open it mother and father appeared. Mother said they should eat breakfast first and asked Ludwig to build a fire. Since it was Christmas they had mush with honey on it. After they had eaten, they went into the other room to open their presents. For Mother there was a handkerchief, made by Alexander, with ‘Mother’ embroidered in blue, and gingham cloth, from father, to make a new dress out of. To Father, Alexander gave a corncob pipe and mother had knitted a muffler and matching mittens. From her par- ents, Alexander has gotten a wooden doll. Eventhough she knew they loved her and had crimped and saved to get itfor her, herheart was heavy. “Oh!” she thought. “My horse! Where is my horse?” But she knew there was no horse. For dinner they went to Uncle Niklas’. As she climbed down from the wagon, Uncle Niklas came run- ning out to greetthem. “Alexander, kom! Fhaf presen for you.”” And he grabbed Alexander by the hand and ran with hertohis barn. There, on the straw in one of the stalls, was a newborn colt. Alexander cried with joy. She’d gotten her horse after all. “Thank you, uncle, thank you.’, she exclaimed. Alex- ander threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug, then she ran to get her mother and father to show them Uncle Niklas’ wonderful gift. They all stood . »oking and ex- claiming over the beautiful white colt. “Kom, I am hungring,” said uncle Niklas. “The colt vill still later be here. Then he is veened, he vill home wif you go.” Solaughing and gay they went into the house, but Alexander had to kiss her colt, her very own horse before she would leave. by Sandy Agnew Lake-Lehman High School Christmas Eve It was Christmas Eve, Iwent to bed. “I hope Santa Claus comes,’ I said. Yes, he came. But oh so fast, That my house he went right past! But when he came back, The chimney was black. And he said to Mack, (The new reindeer in back.) “Come and make the chimney bright, So I can go down it tonight. The tree was very very nice, But Santa’s feet were cold as ice. He put out the little toys, For all the good girls ana boys. by Steven Patton 5 Noxen Elementary THE DALLAS POST — THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1963 Mothers At Christmas Every year when December 24th comes around, Mothers the world over enter into a state of traumatic shock. It starts with the first nerve shattering explosion of little fev- erish fists pounding on thebedroom door with little feverish voices be- wailing the fact that Santa Claus is coming and they haven’t put up their tree yet. All mothers are pain- fully aware of this phenomenon which gets children up no later than 6:00 a. m. on days off whileittakes a major disaster to rouse them on school days. So on Christmas Eve they scurry about, giggling and slamming doors until the matriarch of the family gathers enough cour- age to poke her head out from un- der the blanket and crawl out of bed to greet the anxious clan that awaits her. Any mother who is worth agrain of salt never lets Christmas Eve sneak up on her without preparing a list of what must be done—how, why and by whom. There are a thousand things to do— wash the dog, stuff the turkey, trim the tree, iron the curtains, clean the bird cage and buy Castor Oil. Somehow it seems impossible to do every- thing. If she can last through this day, she could survive wars, famines, floods, droughts, hurri- canes, snow slides and elephant stampedes. But there are many eager help- ers. The husband, whom we shall call Harold for want of a more af- fectionate term, insists on playing Daniel Boone, spending the morn- ing sharpening an axewhichhasn’t been used since grandfather’s day and the afternoon out in the woods hacking down a beautiful tree on private property for which he re- ceives a nice, big fine. He ends up buying a tree and paying double to a grinning thief of a dealer who was probably in league with the forest ranger all along. There is also six-year-old Mary who insists on making four-year- old George scream with terror by telling him that Santa Claus is bound to get stuck in their chimney and Daddy will have to shoot him. The last member of the aid brigade is Jock, a St. Bernard morehuman than canine, who loves raisins and chews on Christmas wreaths. After burning the last batch of Christmas cookies and sewing up the turkey with a broken needle, it is time to bundle up the kids and do some last minute shopping for relatives who weren’t supposed to come in from out of town but did, and to get the green umbrella for Harold’s Aunt Margaret who has been dropping hints since last Jan- uary and holds grudges. The kids are all trussed up in boots and snow suits, when Mary suddenly feels the call of a force greater than a patient mother’s, and everything has to come off again. Inthemean- time George finds little holes in his gloves where he has been sticking the wool in his mouth. In exasper- ated maternal spirit, partly to shut him up and partly to keep him from getting frostbite, the sighing mother gives him hers. Before the family can getto town, the car stalls twice at crowded in- tersections where all the other 9,000 late shoppers have congregated; a Salvation Army bell ringer runs front of the car and drops his o2ttle; and there aren’tany parking places. The kids are whining that they want to see Santa Claus al- though they’ve already told every Santa Claus in every store in town what they want for Christmas. The dog decides too that he doesn’t want to stay in the car while every- one is gone. He’s bigger than Moth- er, so she doesn’t argue—he goes along. The green umbrella is the most difficult thing to find. The kids groan and their feet are sore. The bunion on poor Mother’s right toe is acting up. They find the green umbrella finally in an Army Navy surplus store. It’s sort of a cam- ouflage color but by this time she doesn’t care if it’s decorated with pink bathtubs. It’s just as easy to get the rest of the presents here— thermal underwear for Uncle Hank, a bayonet for the little boy, it’s dull, and an authentic World War II poncho for Sarah. They probably won’t be around again for another three years anyway. It’s time to go home. The children have disappeared. George is saun- tering around like a chubby little mummy not able to move anything but his feet behind a fat lady with the same kind of coat as his mother. Really, one would hopethattheboy would be more perceptive. Mary is sitting on Jock in thedoorway with her eyes closed holding her hand out for pennies. They say everyone has a sense of humor, but by this time the poor mother is wondering if perhaps she doesn’t belong to some rare species of animal that lacks one. Ah, homeagain . . . tofind Har- old, the tree and the ornaments all over the living room floor. He val- iantly offers to decoratethetree. The children are ecstatic. They jump up and down landing on a few of the Christmas lights that Harold has just tested. The dog chews on the branches which are emaciated enough as it is. Tip toing overshat- tered glass, Mary decorates George with tinsel while throwing some on the tree. George plays handgrenade with the ornaments. But Harold is a dear. Soon the tree is transformed into a glittering rainbow arrayed in silver, red, blue and green. The children go off to bed without so much as an “I don’t wanna,” and at last Mother can sit down in front of the tree with a cup of hot coffee. It would be silly to ask her . .. of course she’d say ‘It was worth it.” by Sandra Rossi College Misericordia Sally’s Christmas It was a week before Christmas and Sally told her parentswhatshe hoped to get from Santa Claus. She wanted a talking doll and a big stuffed animal. Her father said that he couldn’t afford the things she wanted. Hedidn’t wantto break five year old Sally’s heart because she believed that Santa Claus brought the toys. After Sally kissed her parents good-night, her mother tucked her in the bed and turned out the light. The mother went to the kitchen and said, “If you wouldn't buy her them, I'll raise some money and I'll borrow the rest from some- one. We'll need about twenty one dollars.” Three days later she had raised fifteen dollars, and had to goshop- ping because the stores would be closed tomorrow for the holidays. She still needed six dollars so she went to the neighbors to borrow the money. The neighbor gaveittoher. Then Sally’s mother asked her to baby sit. Miss Black said “OK”. Sally’s mother went shopping for the gifts. When she got home Sally was right by the door so sheleftthe gifts in the car. After supper Sally went to her bedroom. While shewas in there her mother got the gifts, wrapped them, and then hid them in the closet. Then the Mother told Sally’s father, Dan, that she gotthe gifts, and had five dollars left over. She gave Dan four dollars to get gifts, she kept one dollar to get a gift for him. At five thirty thewhole family went shopping so Sally took two dollars from her piggy bank. She always thought that Santa Claus brought little children toys, but she would have to buy her par- ents gifts. Four days later itwas Christmas. Sally got up bright and early to see what she got. The firstthing she did was wake her parents. They all hurried to get down-stairs. The first gift the mother opened said, To Mommy Love Sally. Sally got her jewelry. The next she opened said To Ruth Love Dan, he got her an electric beater. Then it was Dan’s turn to open his gift, it said To Dad- dy Love Sally. She got him a tie clip and cufflinks. The next gift said To Dan Love Ruth, she got him a shirt. Next was Sally’s turn. One of the gifts said To Little Sally From Santa Claus. She couldn’t wait to open it, it was a talking doll. The next gift said to Sally LoveDaddy, that was a dress. The next said To Sally Love Mommy, it was a big stuffed animal. She was so happy that she cried. Her father asked Sal- ly, “Did you like the gift Santa Claus gave you?” and smiled. by Eleanor Belcher 7-2 Lake- Lehman High School
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers