Paula brought up the Community Christmas concerts from the ’60s. She mentioned the solo by Diane Hill at age 4 or so. Here are the pictures and Dad, Diane, and Paula are together in one. It bears reposting this time of year. Those were the days! Thanks Paula and Gary!

Dick

What a great memory, Paula! I do remember the Sunday School Christmas programs at the old Dunseith Lutheran Church. The lights were turned down except up front where the kids did their parts, usually dressed like shepherds and wise men and the rest. The other thing I remember was that the old church was bursting at the seams with standing room only. I remember how Carl Grimme would quietly and diligently care for the furnace and the appearance of the church building. He could often be seen walking across the street to check how things were over at the church. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think he was given enough credit for his continued monitoring to be sure everything was in order, which he made sure it was. Another thing I remember was the rope that came through the ceiling in the entry that we pulled to ring the bell. When we were older, maybe 14-15, we used to get to ring the bell before church. We always had younger kids hanging around wanting to ring the bell so we played a trick on them. It was the same trick the older kids played on us. If you pulled the rope down slowly, it would come down about 6-7 feet without ringing the bell. We would stand on the rope and hold it down and tell a small kid, “Well, OK you can ring the bell. Now grab on and don’t let go whatever you do.” They would hold on tight and when we were ready to ring the bell, we would let go of the rope and the little kids would go up half way to the ceiling. We would grab them and set them down and then ring the bell. You could only get a kid to fall for that ONCE! In the old church there were floor registers for heat. Nearly every Sunday some kid would drop his nickel or dime that he brought for the offering and we would hear it go through the register and roll down the duct work toward the furnace–and then usually hear a little kid start crying. I think Paula is right about the program in the old days being on Christmas Eve and I KNOW she is right about what was in the bag of treats that was given to each kid as they were leaving the church at the end of the program.. Good memory Paula! Thanks for stirring the old memories. Thanks Gary.

Dick