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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
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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