The Christmas Cantata, 1950

Dear Diary,

While I was at Mary's house last week I photographed this picture of her and her sister in 1950 at the Christmas Cantata at their church.  I colorized them so they would stand out a bit from the crowd.  Mary is the solemn little angel kneeling behind the manger.  Solemn or perhaps sleepy, hard to tell.  She was one of the Whispering Angels but since she couldn't learn the dance properly she was consigned to a kneeling and stationary role.

Her older sister Patty is in the choir, last row on the left.  My school had a Christmas play each year, not a true cantata.  I was in the Little Angel's Choir and in the sixth grade I was elevated to the Announcing Angel who brought the message to the shepherds. 

This Christmas I am going to Hingham, Massachusetts to spend Christmas Eve and day with my best friend and her family.  I will attend church in the late afternoon on the 24th at St. John's and I am really looking forward to it since they have a children's cantata at 4pm.  I never saw Mary's cantata, I was only one year old!, but I feel I know it so well from the countless stories.  She still remembers the dance and lines others said after 67 years!  Sometimes memories shared become just as real as memories experienced.