Roots of Peoples United Methodist Church
Part 45 Memories of Christmas Past


We all have memories of Christmas seasons past as children, as teens and as adults.
Some are pleasant while others may carry a great deal of sadness as a result of events that might have disrupted what most of us would believe is the most joyous time of the year.
Some of you have helped share this journey down memory lane with me and have recalled events that have come from the past, but definitely have an impact on where we are as a church and as individuals today.

The first of you who responded to me was Doreen Gay who sent the following message via e-mail, certainly a method of communication that was unheard of when most of us was young. Her response to the questions given was as follows:

It would have to be Christmas Eve service.... When I first started attending Peoples in 1992, our congregation was much larger in membership. My fondest memory of those early years, were of Christmas Eve services where the sanctuary would be overflowing with regular attendees, extended family, and visitors. The sites and sounds of the evening's events, starting with the live nativity, the hugs and warm Christmas greetings from folks you see each week, to the visiting members from away, to those just joining us for the evening, was so exciting. The church was busy and lively with the anticipation of the evening's event.

This was a time in my life when my boys were strong of faith, still in school, living at home, and were active in the church. While my husband doesn't attend church regularly, he always attends Christmas Eve service, so it was especially wonderful to have my whole family with me. The sounds of singing, the telling of the Christmas story, the ringing of the bells, and the laughter and love of my church family would overwhelm me with tears of joy. While services since that time have been very special it has never felt the same, it was a moment in time that I cherish.
Doreen Gay
Within an e-mail from Rosemary Herd was the following message which she chose to share about past events in her life and the life of Peoples Church:
I hope you can make some sense of my memories, as they are a combination of things that I remember.
First, as a child, I remember that we were given Bible verses to memorize. The vestry was packed and we would each individually walk to the microphone that was on the stage and recite our verse, after which we would receive a small bag of hard Christmas candy. Of course we would be dressed in our finest Christmas clothes.
Second is the Christmas fair. This was before the days of Ellis Hall. The vestry would be filled with Christmas crafts, baked goods, candy. knit wear and aprons. Behind the stage magic was being done with greenery. Wreaths and centerpieces were made and the evergreen smell mingling with the baked goods out front was phenomenal! And then to top it all off, there was a supper served that night. I have no idea how they managed to move the fair things and still set up tables for a ham dinner.
Third and lastly, one of the fondest memories was Aunt Hillie taking the junior choir into Portland and we sang Christmas carols inside on the steps at Porteous, Mitchell and Braun. One year I think we were even broadcast on the radio. (Porteous was the largest in town department store until it closed its doors and was replaced by the Maine College of Art.)
Ro
In an interview with Chris Ward she also remembered singing with the Junior Choir on the First Radio Parish Church of America. This was a program eventually included on early morning WCSH- TV programming. The pastor at the time of visitation by Peoples’ Junior Choir was Reverend Case. Chris also recalled the leadership of the Junior Department, which included Betty Ward, Lillian Tripp and Ginny Lee. She recalled that usually it was the Junior Department that may not have been the cute part of the annual Christmas Pageant, that was reserved for the little children, but it was the department that played the major roles. As a member of the MYF, Chris recalled that the Christmas season was a time when everyone piled into cars and toured the nursing homes in the area including the one that still exists on Anthoine Street.
During the early ‘60’s and later there were Sprague’s Nursing Home on Front Street, Hillside on the corner of Preble and Broadway and the Bayside on Myrtle Street that we would all go and sing carols for the residents.

Chris also recalled some of the folks that use to work on the Christmas Fair. One of the big elements of the fair was the Greens table. Baskets, Swags, Wreaths and other Fir based displays for home and yard were one of the centerpieces of the Fair. Hillie Cass, Nancy Harris, Lucille Johnson, Lillia Moore were some of the long remembered names, While thinking of names Chris also recalled that Sylvia Hahn, Merle Darling and Marlene Tordoff also spent many hours preparing this table for the Fair. Other tables that were wonderfully supplied with goods were the Knit Table with untold pairs of mittens, baby sweaters, vests and the like. Another table exclusively sold aprons. Aprons were available for men, women and children and were colorfully displayed. The old vestry and Ellis Hall still wring with the contributions of Dot Blackinton and Kathleen Robinson on aprons or candy. Ethel Farnsworth was there and you could always see Ada Tordoff and Esther Miller working in the kitchen. And who could forget the chairman for so many years Elsie Perdew. You would also find Ellie Wells scooting around with a variety of hats that she wore. Millie Pleuler and Carolyn Fawcett also made their contributions. The men’s first venture into the Fair was a ham supper that they put on late in the afternoon. It gave another opportunity for people to come in for a meal and to look at the goods for sale that were still available. In our recollections we are sure that we have failed to include some folks that played an integral part in “The Fair” that served this church not only as a money maker, but was one of the social highlights of the year. Folks from the community and those that may not have played active roles in the life of the church always managed to be here on Fair day. The spirit of family is certainly a part of the holiday season and the life of this church.

Another activity that we talked about in the interview was the Live Nativity that has taken place for many years prior to the Christmas Eve service each year. Several families have served as Mary, Joseph and Jesus. I’m sure we have not thought of all that have served in those roles but a few have included the Dunns, Pikes, Folleys, Marstons and Crossmans. To add to this role to make it more complete please submit the names of others that we have forgotten and we will add them to the list for posterity.

Lastly, in this conversation we talked about the impact on the individual, the church and beyond of the Advent Meditation booklets. There have been some notable contributions of parishioners in writing these daily devotionals for the Advent Season.

In a note passed to me in church on Thanksgiving Sunday Pam Beal sent the following message about her recollections of Christmas past. Here is Pam’s message:
“The Christmas Eve service is so very special. When the individual candles are lighted and “Silent Night” is sung, a peace comes over the congregation as we sing. The words, “Silent Night, Holy Night become real as that moment becomes moving and holy. I have been filled with great anticipation as I /We celebrate the birth of our savior.
What a kaleidoscope of memories---from the light events such as the church fair, fun times of making advent wreaths, hanging of the greens, lighting the candles on the advent wreath, the nativity---live no less--- ringing the bells at the end of the Christmas Even service, and most of all the most solemn of times as we all reflect and anticipate and sing especially, “Silent Night”.

From Kevin Malcom we read:
I thought long and hard about the many times in my life that the Christmas season here at Peoples has played a part in my love of the season, the memories I treasure and the way I am still in awe of how mankind was changed by the birth of a tiny, precious baby in a place so far away. One of my personal highlights of each Christmas season was the lighting of the Circle Of Friends candle and the symbolism it has come to show. I imagine our friends in so many far of lands doing the same thing during the course of Christmas Eve, and I wonder what their services are like. Is it a church in the hot jungle or humid South Pacific, or one with cold, whipping winds and snow in Russia or Kazahkstan. Is it a huge, historic cathedral type of church like London or Italy? A modern, brightly lit church like Pretoria or Poland, or a small, simple building with just a bible and a cross like Mexico or Cape Horn. And sadly I worry for some like Beirut or Palestine where the pews, pulpit and Choir loft must be searched before the people enter. How blessed I am to enter the front doors of Peoples Church and step inside, joined in spirit with thousands of others around the globe and sharing this night with so many!

The following is what Belle Graney sent to me:
One of my happiest childhood memories of Christmas at Peoples Church (when it was located on the corner of School Street and High Street) was the annual Christmas concert when one at a time all the young children stood on the stage and recited a piece. After that we all received a fancy Christmas box of hard candy (As recorded earlier the box of hard candy was still around in the 1950’s.) We waited excitedly for the Sunday school Superintendent (my Uncle John Woodbury), to call our name and we would walk up to the tree and get our box of candy. The concert and the program went on for hours and I can remember falling asleep with my head in my mother’s lap (Etta Robinson). The candy boxes came flat in a big bundle and the candy came in bulk in one large box. My mother was active in the Sunday school so when we older, we would all sit around the dining room table, fill the boxes together and my mother would write all of the children’s’ names on them.



In my own life at Peoples, I can think of a number of things that have really stood out from childhood through the teen years and into the various stages of adulthood.

I think as a child I was terrified to get up in front of an audience and give a recitation in front of a crowded vestry of parents and fellow Sunday schoolers. It is hard to think back at that time and believe that would eventually lead to the courage to teach as my lifetime pursuit. I too remember the reward of the evening being that box of hard candy that Rosemary mentions in her account. I can say that I don’t believe that gave me the desire to have hard candy except at Christmas time in the fancy Christmas box.

In the same vein as a young teen I joined others my age and younger in a Christmas Pageant that told the nativity story. The year I most recall was probably a year that I was in junior high or my freshman year in high school. Miss. Ruth Allen led us in preparing the pageant that would be held in the sanctuary. Miss. Allen, who had grown up in the church, was at this time serving as the advisor to the Methodist Youth Fellowship. It must have been around 1952 or 1953. She belonged to the women’s organization of the Oddfellows, I believe known as the Rebeccas. Like many such organizations these organizations in their religious ceremonies would wear rather elegant robes and dresses. On the occasion of this reenactment we “players” in the pageant were festooned with these robes, especially if we were playing the part of one of the Kings. I remember especially Karen Freitas (I believe that was her first name) playng the role of the angel and singing the song, “There’s a Song in the Air.” I still carry that angelic image of her and the way she sang the song. I also remember playing the role of one of the Kings and wearing that heavy but heavenly robe and carrying something that represented one of the royal gifts to the manger.
That sounds easy to do, but while you were striding slowly down the center aisle of the sanctuary with the pews filled on either side, I had to sing one of the verses of “We Three Kings”. Again an enlightening experience because as a young man I did not have the comfort level to do what I was called to do in this role. Again it was an activity in the life of Peoples Church that was helping me to gain confidence in facing my everyday world of school and community.

Some years later I remember my own children being involved in Sunday school pageants. I remember a pageant within a pageant when our son Mark played the role of a father and Jane Koelker, the minister’s daughter played the role of mother. This pageant was held again in the cozy confines of the vestry with the room filled to each of the walls with parents and friends. So filled was the room that many of the small participants had a hard time finding seats in the room.
Within the story that surrounded a typical American family at Christmas time was a traditional church Christmas pageant with the children playing the roles of the nativity while a series of student narrators read the story. Small children had their angel wings and sang several of the significant carols that echoed the story of the nativity. It was especially blessed when the smallest of the children came forward to sing “Away In A Manger”.

Our daughter, Amy, recalls that in the pageants of her era that she often played the role of the narrator or announcer.

The above were the reminiscences of those who wrote them in time to place in this edition of Roots. If you find time to think of what your Christmas memories were and wouldn’t mind sharing your piece of history feel free to write those ideas down and send them to me. I would very much like to be able to place more memories of significance in future episodes of Peoples Roots and History.