West Virginia Friends: There was a Christmas program every year at the Matheny Methodist Church where I went to church as a child and teen ager. The church was decorated with pine boughs and a big Christmas tree. Trinkets were sparsely hung around the tree. The favored decorations were colored chains, which were made from construction paper by the school children next door. A stage was prepared in the pulpit area in front of the altar. A wire was stretched all the way across the church above railings at the altar. The curtains were bed-sheets with special hems that held the wire. The curtains were opened and closed by sliding them along the wire. We started practicing and getting ready for the Christmas program about six weeks before the event. A typical program would include congregational singing of the favored old-time Christmas carols and specials by individuals, duets and quartets. Younger children recited Christmas poems and gave their rendition of “Away In A Manger.” There were usually a couple of plays, one of a secular nature and another retelling the original Christmas story. Teen-age girls donned homemade costumes and did pantomimes to the words and music of various Christmas carols. Everyone was given a chance to participate. One time, Elmer Arnold recited, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” although he was not on the official program. Similarly, someone might sang a Christmas solo or tell of a Christmas experience. The church was always packed on the night of the Christmas program. Of course Santa was expected to arrive on time at the end of the program. He could be depended upon to deliver a small bag of candy, a peppermint cane, an apple and an orange to every child in the church building. It would be the only gifts that some of them would get, and they would not have been more excited if they had received a pony. I cringe as I write this knowing the attitudes toward gifts exhibited by most children in our modern society. STAN Homework Assignment: Memories of Church Pie Socials, my next memory topic.