THE SEWING BEE AND CHRISTMAS CONCERT

The year is 1929 and I am six years old. Our nearest town is Orion, Alberta which is ten miles from home. It is early December and the ladies of the neighbourhood gather to sew the small red and green net bags that held nuts, candy and that once-a-year treat – a bright yellow orange at the top.

Each Friday the Canadian Pacific Railway train stopped at Orion to drop off the mail and other supplies for the two general stores in town. The post office was the general meeting place to exchange the local news including the date of the sewing bee and other general news. At the sewing bee the women exchanged family news that confirmed the date of the Christmas concert that was held at the local school. A treadle sewing machine turned out the bags to be filled with Christmas treats that would be placed under the tree at the concert. The grade school teacher had prepared a program for the evening entertainment. The children marched around in formation and I recall feeling honoured to lead the parade on the plank stage that had been erected that day after school by fathers. We each had memorized a recitation that made our parents proud as we delivered them flawlessly.

Gas lanterns hung from the ceiling as the mysteries of the evening unfolded. Sleigh bells jingled as teams of horse-drawn sleighs rattled their harness over snow clad trails and turned into the school yard. If it was one of those 40 degrees below zero evenings the horses were unhitched and tied up in the barn. A pot-bellied stove warmed our hands and threw enough heat to cozy up our small one-room school. After the program Santa arrived and called out the names of each child as they came forward to receive their gift. The men removed the make-shift stage and some families stayed for the dance after the concert. Those with small children climbed aboard their sleighs and the bells jingled us over the new-fallen snow to stoke up the home fires.