[Sadie]
has a good ear for music and a sweet true little voice. Ina, 1933
It snowed all night and was still snowing in the morning. Miss Dorothy Johnson, the teacher, was unable to return from
town and school was cancelled. And that was fine because no one could make it
to the schoolhouse anyway. Sadie worried about the upcoming pageant, but Ina said that
by Friday things could change. They would practice her part just the same, and
she could sing the songs, too.
Off
to the piano Sadie went and commenced to play the simple Christmas tunes like
Aunt Shirley had showed her. “Up on the housetop reindeer pause,” she sang in
her sweet clear voice. “Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn’t go.
Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn’t go,
Up on the housetop, click, click, click;
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick.”
Next
Sadie sang “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” and finished with “We Wish You a Merry
Christmas.” 
The songs brought back memories for Ina. All of her children had strong voices and sang well. Both Ethel and Myrtle sang in church choirs, and
Vance had received some voice training with his music education. And now her grandchildren were singing, too.
“Only
the names and faces change,” said Ina to herself. The Christmas program at the
Dickson School would be mostly the same as it had been every year since 1896 –
and probably mostly the same as at every other one-room school. KW
4 comments:
Oh, I meant to comment earlier... Anyway, I had to look up those songs you wrote about and was amazed to discover how old they were! I thought they were "current" when I was little, but no!
Yes, they are old, but for each generation, they are new all over again.
Ah! I'm glad "Aunt" Chris did the research. I was wondering the same.
"Here Comes Santa Claus" is another we sang at programs, but it was written in the '40s and recorded for the first time by Gene Autry in 1946.
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