In my rural community, the Christmas season opened and closed with music. From a week or so after Thanksgiving, the radio stations played Christmas music almost constantly.
About the same time my one-room rural school began practicing a half hour or so a day for the Christmas program. A couple of the first or second graders would learn to recite a short poem, and one of the seventh or eighth graders would present “The Night Before Christmas.” Most of the older kids would take part in a short play.
Whatever else we did, we all sang. We did it not because we were talented but because everyone expected it. Those who could carry tunes through an entire piece sang solos or duets of some of the newer songs, like “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.” With the teacher playing the piano, the whole school—up to a dozen kids—sang the old carols, particularly “Silent Night,” “O, Come All Ye Faithful,” “Little Town of Bethlehem,” and “Joy to the World.”
The rhythm band’s first choice was “Jingle Bells,” which we belted out as two or three kids shook little hand bells. The triangle got a good workout, too. The rest of the percussion section, the sticks and the sandpaper blocks, were more muted. You can’t do just one rhythm band number, so we’d often add “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” Everyone made as much noise as possible with their makeshift instruments, which meant we had to sing loudly to be heard over them.
Although our singing had more volume than beauty, our audience of parents and neighbors always loved our Christmas music.
—Carolyn Mulford