Item From the Past: Christmas Pageant

There's only one thing written on the back of the photograph below: Dec. 19, 1969. At that moment in time, I was in the 3rd grade. I've long had the urge to date documents, and sure enough the date on this pic is in a childish hand that I recognize as my own handwriting, back when I was fairly new at it. I have to add that the Dec. is in cursive, which I hear that some short-sighted pedagogues do not teach any more.

I didn't write down the names of the kids in the pageant, but oddly enough I remember most of them. From left to right: Jack (standing, no costume), Leslie (holding the Star of Bethlehem), kid I don't remember (shepherd), Cole, David (more shepherds), another David (Joseph), Maura (Mary), Ruth Ann (standing, no costume), Donald, me and Art (as Wise Men). I'm not including them here, but I remember everyone's last name too, except for the kid I don't remember at all and the David with red hair.

The adult in the picture is Mrs. Bigelow, our third-grade teacher at Woodridge Elementary School. What astonishes me about this picture isn't that I was in a Christmas pageant (which I don't really remember, except for making the crown I wore). It's that we had a Christmas pageant at a public school. I doubt that anyone complained about it. Lilly and Ann experience "winter festivals," but that's not the way it was 41 years ago and a 1,000 miles south of here.