I am born a Canadian but I was raised in a home in Edmonton where German was still spoken by my parents whenever my Grandparents were present and our family attended a German Baptist Church.
In the church, the Christmas season began with a Christmas Concert put on by the massed German and English choirs in which it was a tradition to sing excerpts from Handel's Messiah in German as well as other Christmas music. This was followed a week later by the annual White Christmas play presented by the young people to raise money to buy food hampers for the needy. The Christmas Eve Service was the highlight of the festivities with the children and teens in the Sunday School taking part in a program consisting of recitations, singing, and a Christmas play put on by the teens. The evening was concluded by a soloist singing 'O Holy Night' and a brief message by the Pastor. There was standing room only if you arrived late for any of these services.
The church sanctuary was decorated with a huge, twenty foot Christmas tree hauled in from the farm of one of the members of the church. The tree was set up in the orchestra pit and decorated with lights, tinsel, and glass ornaments that had been accumulated over many years. Candy bags filled with candies, nuts in their shells, an apple and two Japanese oranges were given to the children and teens. There was a time when even the adults received a bag until it got too expensive to maintain the tradition.
All December, my Mother kept busy baking Christmas cakes, cookies, and making the fabulous toffee that she made only at Christmas. She would get the house ready for the holidays by sending the family to a nearby Christmas tree lot to select a tree and bring it home. Occasionally the tree vendor had hot chocolate or hot apple cider available to ward off the cold while you were making your selection. At home, Dad would trim the trunk of the tree and fix it in its stand before bringing it into the house. The tree was allowed to stand for a few hours before decorating so that the branches could spread out and the tree fill the house with its fragrance.
I vaguely remember Mom using small Christmas candles to light the tree but only on Christmas Eve and later her buying strings of coloured electric lights that could be used for the whole Christmas season. There was a hitch though; if one light burned out, the entire set went out and you would have to search one by one for the dead bulb in order to replace it and light up the tree again. It eventually became my responsibility to put the lights on the tree but Mom still supervised the rest of the decorating.
Christmas Eve was spent making last minute preparations for the big day and by going to Church for the Christmas Eve Service. Our family never had a car until my two older brothers were adults and had cars of their own. There was something special about the family going to church on the bus that evening and then coming home and walking down the lane leading to our house. The snow crunched under your boots and seemed to sparkle more in the moonlight on that night than it did on any other day during winter.
Our family always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve. Even now, a pastor friend of mine, who has a German background, assures me that this is the proper way of doing things. Somehow the gifts already under the tree seemed to have multiplied while we were away. We gathered in the living room to open the gifts and then to enjoy the goodies that Mom had ready waiting on the dining room table. Then it was off to bed looking forward to the big Christmas dinner on Christmas Day when friends or relatives would join us. Mother always purchased the biggest turkey she could afford, usually a twenty pounder, because she wanted left-overs. To this day, I am fond of turkey-pot-pies!
Putting lights on the tree
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