Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Christmas carols—we hear them on TV, on MP3, in the mall, in the car, walking down the street, at school … Are there Christmas carols sung in the schools? It used to be that schools were more liberal, or lenient, or focused on what Christmas was and is about. But this letter is not what you might think. Although I believe in the true “Reason for the Season,” I would like to expound on a teacher connected with the season.

Riverside Elementary School Newport News, 1960:

During December that year every seventh-grade student had a part in the Christmas pageant. There were shepherds, wise men, angels, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, but with four classrooms of 11- and 12-year-olds, how could each student have a part? The students who were not on stage were actually seated in the auditorium just in front of the stage. They, and I, were the choir. We each had parts, soprano, alto, and tenor too, I suppose, but probably, at that time in the pretee...