Another Monday start to the work week on the path around the Falls brought weather issues, not cold, but a good 5 inches of snow. There is nothing like a beautiful snowstorm to get people in the mood for the holidays. Many of the snowplow guys on Monday morning must have felt that Christmas came early this year.
Speaking of Christmas and the holidays, we are coming into the holiday concert season. Saturday’s high school choir spectacular “Home for the Holidays” was a fitting way to kick off the season. It was the first of many.
The concerts are a time to showcase student talent that does not get reported on Wisconsin’s School Report Card and are certainly a measure of the good things happening in our schools. The concerts are also an opportunity to welcome visitors into our building. Rest assured, we will do what we can to have our schools outfitted with festive decorations to add to the spirit.
Holiday concerts can be a little controversial in some quarters, due to the growing multicultural aspect of many communities. In some places, in order to be “politically correct,” the names of the concerts and selection of music have migrated to content that has no connection to the Christmas theme.
This is unfortunate from a number of perspectives. Focusing on the Santa Claus theme or another gift giving only aspect takes away from what is the real significance for most people. However, we must be sensitive to the fact that not all people come from a Christian background, and even within that group, some do not favor celebration.
In our schools, we have a few families who take exception to participating in Sunday concerts or concerts that are connected with the Christmas theme. In every case, those students are excused from participating and have an alternative assignment.
A second downside of the movement away from the Christmas theme in concerts is that a great many beautiful musical works have been written with that theme in mind. While there may be a message in the lyrics, the performance of the music is the center of the learning experience. Never experiencing those works can leave a student with a less-than-complete repertoire of the range of classical music that is part of our culture.
The range of music performed at our holiday concerts has been selected with a little more freedom than may be the case in some communities. Judgment is important, but there has not been a prohibition of Christmas-themed music if it is appropriate for the age level and the difficulty of the piece of music.
Speaking of the season of gift giving, the holiday season can be one in which the little gift box under the tree contains a ring with a bright, shiny stone or two. In those situations the gift symbolizes something significant, a commitment to a lifetime together, with an approaching marriage ceremony to serve as the official start of that journey.
There was a time when the newspaper was used to make the announcement of the engagement and the approaching marriage. Perhaps a professional photographer would be involved, with a number of proofs considered after the photo session. The favorite would be selected and sent to the newspaper with a formal announcement. There might be a charge for the publication of the announcement, but that’s what it took to get the message out.
Let’s fast forward to 2014 and the pervasive social media channels. A question is asked, the little box is passed, and the anticipated answer is heard. Done deal. A picture is taken with a phone, the picture is posted to the Internet, and an hour later all the world knows, or so it seems.
The good news is that the word is out. The bad news is that the professional photographer and the newspaper lost out on some business. Thankfully, there are some traditionalist couples who go through the process and use the photographer and the formal announcement in the weekly paper, but they seem to be the exception.
As Bob Shellman and many of the other editors of his generation used to say, “Old news is no news,” and in that contest, Facebook can trump the Oconto County Times Herald.
May there be many little boxes under this year’s Mid-Winter Festival Trees.
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