STEARNS COUNTY MINNESOTA BIOGRAPHIES
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File contributed for use in Stearns County Biographies by
Name: Nikki Abbott
Email: mnqa@aol.com
Date: ?
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   (Text from TIMES REVIEW, the La Crosse diocesan paper) 
                                
    CHRISTMAS EIGHTY YEARS AGO
                               
    By Sr. Julia Anne Maus FSPA (Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual
    Adoration) St. Rose Convent, La Crosse, Wisconsin Dec. 1997
    
    Eighty years ago, in 1917, when I was only 11 years old,
    Christmas seemed never to come. Time didn't fly as it does
    today, but that I have been told is a sign of old age, when
    Christmas is barely past and Easter is just around the
    corner, and then comes Fourth of July and summer is here. In
    just a few weeks, there is Thanksgiving and Christmas lights
    begin to appear.
    
    Eighty years ago, we didn't celebrate Christmas until
    December 25 when it finally came.
    
    I grew up in a thoroughly Catholic home and in my childhood
    spoke German, which meant that "Christ Kindchen" (The Christ
    Child) brought gifts, even the tree, for Christmas. My
    mother had no problem thinking of Advent activities for her
    house full of 12 children. Weeks before Christmas we made
    popcorn balls and strung yards of popcorn for the Christ
    Child to put on the tree, or we decorated Mother's ginger
    cookies baked in shapes of trees or stars, also for the
    tree. These were exciting days of anticipation.
    
    When Christmas Eve finally arrived, all of us youngsters,
    who still believed that the heavenly Christ Child was coming
    to our house, were sent to bed early so as to be ready to
    get up in the early morning. Our so-called Midnight Mass was
    held at five o'clock in the morning at the parish church
    where my father was organist and choir director.
    
    So, at three o'clock, my Father playing "Silent Night" on
    the violin, came upstairs to announce that the Christ Child
    had come. In seconds all of us youngsters were shouting,
    "Merry Christmas" and assembling in the living room where
    stood the most beautiful tree one could ever imagine, or we
    went to the dining room where our plates were full of
    Christmas goodies. Then came the highlight of the morning
    when all of us circled around the tree watching my Father
    light real candles. No one but Dad ever lighted the candles,
    but there it stood in all its glory, loaded with tree- and
    star-shaped cookies, popcorn balls and/or strings, and our
    favorite pictures of nativity scenes, Madonnas, or angels.
    It was the only light in the room as we sang "Silent Night"
    and "O Come Little Children" with my Father accompanying us
    on his violin.  It was real joy, interior and exterior.
    
    We had only minutes for oh's and laughter as we examined our
    gifts.  One I will never forget was a little gold chain and
    locket with a medal in it, which I had shown to my mother
    weeks before as something I was praying for the Christ Child
    to bring me.  It was only 35 cents in the catalog, but to me
    seemed a priceless treasure.
    
    By four o'clock it was time for all of us old enough to walk
    a half-mile to church to get dressed and off to Mass.  When
    the snow was too deep for walking, my older brother got out
    a sleigh with jingling bells to give us a ride.  The church
    was aglow with lights and seemed like a bit of heaven,
    especially with the choir singing, oh so softly, "Silent
    Night."
    
    Mother stayed home from Mass, both to take care of those too
    little to go to church and to prepare a luscious breakfast
    of home-made sausage and her own out-of-this-world coffee
    cake. The joy and excitement around the table with all
    wanting to talk at once about their gifts and all the
    goodies the Christ Child had brought, all are part of
    Christmas I will never forget.