My wife Shirley read this and loved it. Here is her repsonse: "This is the same Christmas program given in 1974 under the coordination of Mrs. Duty, I was the tender age of 3 years and I uttered the now famous quote (famous in Matheny anyway), "mith Dudy-- gotta peeee!" and everyone roared with laughter. It was standing room only that night...as I recall...lucky for everybody that my mom took my hand and proceeded to take me to pee. In my defense, I had tried to get "mith dudy" to take me numerous times before we got on stage." Matthew STANLEY BROWNING <[email protected]> wrote: 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. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Shirley/Matthew Perhaps "mith dudy" didn,t want to go outside in that cold night air and have to search for the outhouse in the dark. Here's a little tidbit for you. Tom Duty apparently had an illegitimate daughter named Loretta. I knew her very briefly in high school and she told me then that she was Tom's daughter. She didn't try to hide the fact. I don't remember her mother's name. SB On Dec 18, 2007, at 1:07 PM, Matthew Burns wrote: > "mith dudy"