1958 Christmas Concert at Egmont Elementary School

I was in Grade 1 in 1958 and there were 2 other kids in my class at Christmas time. They were my cousins Raymond and Kathy.

We started the year with 4 students but one boy died in a tragic boating accident. It was a very traumatic event for 6 year olds to comprehend, especially when the whole community was in shock. No one saw the heavily loaded boat tip, saw it sink or saw the man and his son drown, but residents found the load of floating lumber they’d been carrying to build their new home, and they found the bodies.

Of course there was much speculation as to how the accident happened and I overheard the gossip, but my parents never actually talked about the accident in front of me or to me. We didn’t discuss it at school either, the teacher just removed his desk from our row and life went on. By December our class had settled into a routine with Kathy being the smart one, Raymond being the boy, and me, the shy little mouse.

As Christmas approached we made construction paper garlands and balls to hang in the classroom and beautiful bright white paper cutout snowflakes to decorate the tall windows beside our desks.

We also practiced for our Christmas Concert. Our school included Grade 1 to Grade 7 with about 30 kids and we were all in one classroom. The older kids had very elaborate skits and songs to practice and the teacher chose “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” as the song the Grade 1 class was to sing.

Kathy and Raymond perhaps practiced at home - or maybe they already knew the song. I’m afraid there wasn’t much music or singing in my parents house and I never learned to sing. I didn’t know the words and I was so painfully shy I certainly didn’t join in while they practiced at school, no matter how the teacher tried to encourage me.

The evening of the concert arrived. We were all dressed up in our best Christmas outfits and so excited to be attending a party with all the older kids and our parents. Santa was to arrive with a gunny sack of gifts after the concert. Of course the evening began with our National Anthem, “O Canada”.

The teacher called Kathy, Raymond and me to come to the front of the room and she played the music on the piano. Kathy and Raymond sang “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and I stood there, not knowing the words, not singing, just standing with my head down, absolutely mortified.

The audience laughed and laughed during the entire song. I was sure they were laughing at me - and until tonight when I talked to Skittles about not singing, I didn’t understand why they were laughing at me and hurting my feelings just because I didn’t know the words and couldn’t sing.

Now, I know!

The audience was laughing because the song is very, very cute and so are 6 year olds - they are darned cute, whether they are singing or not.

I attended many concerts where my children, and their classmates performed. There always was a child in the group who did not participate, made a minor slip, whose hat fell off, who walked the wrong direction, who missed a step and caused everyone else to miss a step, sang the lines of the song wrong, forgot his lines…. and the audience (including me) laughed.

Little kids are adorable, actually, especially when they make mistakes. The mistakes quite often make the most memorable events.

AND, I guess now, 48 years later I can finally understand (thanks to discussing it with Skittles) - the audience was not trying to hurt my feelings, they weren’t laughing AT me, they didn’t think I was inadequate or dumb or couldn’t sing.

They thought I was ADORABLE, as were Kathy and Raymond!!! We were 6 year olds.

I’ve never been able to sing since that concert, other than quietly joining in to “Happy Birthday” or lip syncing “O Canada”, BUT I might just start singing to my Granddaughter - she won’t notice or care if I don’t know all the words, don’t know how to stay in tune, don’t know how to clap to the beat - it’s the participation in life that matters - and I’m glad Skittles helped me learn that.