Childhood Memories of a Simpler New Bedford Christmas

Christmas week at New Bedford's Abraham Lincoln Elementary School – the old Abraham Lincoln Elementary School – was a magical time.

The world was a different place in 1967. It was changing for sure, but life was still much simpler then.

The excitement of the holiday filled the air from Mr. Simmon's boiler room in the basement up to the sixth-grade classrooms on the third floor.

Arithmetic, social studies, geography, penmanship, and the rest could wait until we returned in January.

The chalkboards got a good washing before we left for the holidays with large sponges and water from metal or white porcelain wash basins.

The chalk erasers were clapped clean against the red brick exterior wall and were left standing upright in the chalk tray with a fresh piece of white chalk on top, in preparation for the resumption of learning when we returned in the new year.

Christmas was coming and veteran school teachers such as Mrs. Nolan, Mrs. Harrison, and Miss Alewood – and the new generation of instructors, Mr. Oliver and Miss Wood – knew they couldn't hold our attention for long.

Images of candy canes, Santa Claus, and Christmas trees rolled off the mimeograph machines as quickly as a fifth grader's arm could crank the handle. We would color the drawings, and some of the best ones would hang in the hallway or near Principal Barbara Sykes' office on the second floor.

We made Christmas decorations and hung them on the classroom windows so passersby on Ashley Boulevard could see them. They were usually large white candles with red candle holders and yellow flames cut from construction paper reduced in size by the paper cutter on the table in the front of the classroom.

The music teacher who visited our classroom once or twice per week taught us Christmas carols, even the religious ones.

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Some students belonged to the Lincoln School Glee Club and performed in the annual Christmas concert in the large auditorium in the days preceding Christmas break.

Christmas trees, usually donated artificial trees, were permitted in the classroom back then. Students were encouraged to bring an ornament from home to help decorate the tree. We made chain garland using construction paper and white paste to lace around our classroom tree.

There was even a visit from Santa.

The day before Christmas break, students and teachers celebrated together with cookies and brownies brought from home. We exchanged Christmas cards. Some students brought presents for the teacher.

Christmastime at the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in 1967, like public and parochial schools throughout the SouthCoast, was magical, a reflection of a simpler time.

But few could predict as we carried our Christmas cookies, candy canes, and Christmas cards home for the holidays just how much the world would change when classes resumed and the calendar ushered in 1968.