Advent Calendar: Christmas at School

What did you or your ancestors do to celebrate Christmas at school? Were you ever in a Christmas Pageant?

Yes, I'm old enough to remember Christmas at school. We made little reindeer ornaments in kindergarten and did a Christmas play in 5th grade (I played a grandmother, but all I can remember is that I wore makeup to simulate wrinkles and spent most of my time on stage rolling out fake cookies). We sang religious songs at our school concerts--and they were Christmas concerts, not "holiday" concerts.

I'm a little nostalgic about that, though I appreciate the separation of church and state too much to argue for its return (after all, I wouldn't want another religion foisted upon my kid at school). For now, though, my daughter attends a preschool located in a church, so she comes home with lots of Christmas decorations. Today's project was a glittery construction paper Christmas tree, which is now adorning our fridge.

Find more Advent Calendar posts at Geneabloggers!

Wordless Wednesday: Johanson School District #8

Johanson School District #8
Moody County, South Dakota
where my great-grandfather, John Scriver, was sometimes not absent ;-)

EDITED TO ADD: I'm not actually sure if this is the school building that was in use in my great-grandfather's day. I've heard that a new building was put up in the 1930's, so this may well be it. That's something to research.

Wordless Wednesday: Mervin Peterson

The kids are already back to school around here, which made me think of the school photos I have in my collection. School photos are timeless, aren't they? This is my maternal grandmother's brother, Mervin Peterson (1928 - 2008). I look at this picture to remember that he was once my great-grandmother's little boy.