Christmas at the Janzens

Harry Kuhn’s story: “The Ghost of Christmas Past” has inspired me to write about our Christmas at our home as we were growing up. It was quite different.

My Dad was the teacher of the middle grades in a three room school in Springstein, Manitoba: grades 5 to 8. All the farmers within the Springstein area were Mennonites. A major church building for the General Conference Mennonites was located across the road from the school.

Already in fall Dad would start looking for songs and poems and short stories in preparation for Christmas. This was because at Christmas there would be a Christmas Concert put on by Dad’s students at the church across the street.. It had become famous within the Mennonite community and was attended by families far and wide on the day of presentation.

Why? This was no ordinary meeting to celebrate Christmas. It was because Dad had a mandolin orchestra which played in 4-part harmony the Christmas songs we all knew and cherished from childhood on. Of course there were also Christmas poems and solos and a short Christmas sermon and prayer by our preacher. There was also a huge monster of a tree which a group of farmers had brought in and which the ladies had decorated beautifully. There seemed to be a competition as who could find the biggest tree for this occasion. In those days all Christmas trees had real candles to light.

Let me digress for a moment to tell you about our mandolin orchestra. Dad I’m sure wondered how he was going to teach music to his students without a piano in the house. Also he thought an instrument that could be taken home in winter so his students could practice reading notes would be the ideal choice. A guitar? Too bulky in a sleigh pulled by horses in a snow storm. A violin? Too sensitive. A brass instrument? Too expensive. A mandolin? This might be an answer. But who had one? No one likely.

Dad loved to go into the North Main area of Winnipeg and shop at the second-hand stores. These shops were owned by Jewish merchants for whom I have the highest respect. They love a good buyer-merchant argument on any piece that someone might be interested in. And so did Dad. In the usual piles of junk Dad might find an old guitar, an old violin or an old mandolin. A-ha. An old mandolin.So the mandolin was purchased after a long debate. Dad had little money those days so there were numerous walk-aways with the merchant running after Dad every time bringing the price down a smidgin. I know because I was there and watched.