Christmas Program at Church
Every year we were given a recitation to memorize and say for the Christmas Program. This particular year, my recitation was a German hymn verse, "Nun ist die zeit erfullt". Since I never had trouble memorizing, I soon knew it, so I decided to learn it backward too. Every day I would practice saying it out loud outside behind the woodshed. Sometimes I would say it the right way, and then again I'd say it backward. It didn't matter much to me how I said it, since I didn't really understand it anyway.
Soon it was Christmas Eve and time for the program. What an exciting time this was! We had all had our nap in the afternoon, the bricks had been heated in the oven to keep our feet warm in the sleigh, and in spite of the four miles by horse and sleigh, we had arrived at the church on time. The candles were all lit on the Christmas tree and everyone was dressed in his finest. The atmosphere was perfect.
I anxiously waited for the time to say my recitation. I felt so confident because I knew it so well and had practiced it so much. When I got up to the front, I suddenly couldn't remember which was the right way to say it. So when I started, wouldn't you know, I started to say it backwards. Was I embarrassed when, after all my practicing, the pastor had to stop me and tell me to start over.
The most exciting part of the evening was still coming. This was probably what I was thinking about when I said my recitation backward. After the service, the Christmas bags were handed out. We could hardly wait for our name to be called, all the while hoping that we hadn't been forgotten. Then we heard it, -"Maaser -7". That was for us! What a thrill it was when we opened them upon our arrival home. Inside we usually found an orange, some peanuts, and a small bag of hard candy. This was our very own, and we made the contents last a long time. This was a most memorable Christmas for me, even though somewhat embarrassing.