Black Butte School's Christmas

Black Butte School children performed at a Christmas concert. Photo by Bear Brown

Camp Sherman winter-dwellers postponed hibernation last Thursday night to attend Black Butte School's annual Christmas program at Camp Sherman Community Hall.

More than 100 residents, out-of-town relatives and guests enjoyed a potluck dessert, then readied their cameras and boxes of Kleenex.

In light of current world tensions, wars, and rumors of war, the poignant ending left no eye dry.

Teacher Toni Foster reminded students in a private pep talk, "The Camp Sherman community does so much to support us.

This is our 'thank you' to them," she said. "Sing well -- and smile!"

For Thursday's program, Traute Kindler Goertzen, a Camp Sherman resident born in Austria, taught the students to sing (with authentic accents) two German carols. The children also sang angelically on-key.

"We cannot select our students to be musical," Lovegren said. "We work with them and teach them an ear for music."

This surprised even the experienced Watson.

"I didn't know that was possible before I started accompanying them," she said.

Seventh grader Rebeccah Lovegren narrated Thursday's program.

Songs included a sampling of little-known secular carols that drew hearty laughs from the audience.

Nearly all students joined in a complex round, "Buy Me Chocolate" (lemonade, cookies, and peanuts). Elfin first grader Johnnie Anderson stole hearts as the starry-eyed child who received "The Marvelous Toy."

Chad Kernutt, Nolan Titchener, Skye Scott, and Jake Sonnier put on plausible Irish accents for "Ms. Fogarty's Christmas Cake." The chorus included Rylee Bancroft, Easton Curtis, Haley Hancock, Carissa Kernutt, Danielle Lovegren, Sol Scott, Kyrsten Sonnier, Cassy Stephens, Paige Stephens and Lauren White.

The full choir also sang Christmas favorites including "The First Noel" and "Angels We Have Heard on High."

Sounding like Vienna Choir children, Kelsey White and Nolan Titchener sang in harmony, "What Child Is This?"

The closing segment followed the lyrics of "Christmas in the Trenches," John McCutcheon's song about the stunning and heart-wrenching 1914 Christmas Eve truce between German and British troops in World War I.

Kelsey White and Rachel Lovegren narrated with controlled emotion.

Acting in pantomime, Chad Kernutt, Jake Sonnier, and Nolan Titchener played the German soldiers; Skye Scott and Nathan Wright, the British troops, with Kyle Dick as Francis Tolliver writing in his journal.