 |
| ELF ON A TREE |
Holiday seasons can tug
at the heart. And is there much more of a memory trigger than a box of
Christmas decorations? This year, after we hauled ours down from the attic, I
came across a card that students made for me the year I retired from teaching. That
flashback to Christmas concerts and all the excitement of the December
classroom, made me dig up one of my old stories. I wrote it in December of 1993
during the first of the seven years that I taught at C.O.Somes.
My years at Somes were
fantastic. The former three-room public elementary school at Batchawana Bay had
a partial view of Lake Superior, sported a terrific rink and was a place of
learning for some of the most awesome students ever. They often inspired me to
write and hence this “true” story from 1993. It’s my version of Elf on a Shelf.
The
week before Christmas this year was an especially magical one. We hadn’t yet encountered
any of the usual Northern Ontario bouts of snow and ice. The playground was a wide
open space where grasses shone golden from light reflecting off the lake. And
at recess, the children, so happy to be wearing shoes instead of boots couldn’t
stop running. They would gleefully toss off their coats and race over the hard
frozen ground to the edge of the bush. That’s where the trees rose up and covered
a small hill behind the school.
After
one particularly sunny afternoon recess the children all came tumbling inside,
talking about the leprechaun that they had seen hidden amongst the trees. Each
day the leprechaun hype rolled into the classroom along with all the other pre-Christmas
Santa talk. The children could hardly contain themselves. By the time the bell
rang on the last Friday morning before the holiday, I could see that their
excitement was about to overflow. But... I got lucky. It was a wondrous,
snow-free, sunny morning and I knew I could settle their bouncy natures by
going for a quick walk around the playground. Our goal was to “look for the
leprechaun” before we started classes for the day.
The
children followed, and then led me across the field. When we came to the edge
of the trees, one of them said, “There Miss - over there!” So off we went amongst
the trees to search for the elusive elf. With great delight they exclaimed
about every hole beside a root being a leprechaun’s home and every collection
of sticks here and there being his woodpile. Some of the children started
tripping, falling, laughing and saying “The leprechaun is pushing me down!”
We
wandered through the bush for a few more minutes and then I gathered up my
students for the return walk to the school. As we lined our way back across the
field, one of the children pointed at the trees and said, “I see him! I see him!
I see his golden eyes shining!”
The
others stopped and tried to spot the golden eyes. Some even agreed that they saw
the glimmer too. After a few moments of questioning, we continued the trek to
the classroom, satisfied with the success of the outing.
I
wondered to myself how the reality of this leprechaun would compare to that of
the red-suited elder who would later Santa his way into the school. Then one of
the students asked me in an anxious voice, “But what if it’s a bad leprechaun?”
Oh,
oh I thought. Think fast Ruth.
“Well,”
I said, taking a breath. “He can’t be a bad one because this is a beautiful
place and you are happy people and only good leprechauns can stand being around
beauty and happiness.”
Thanks kind elf and
Merry Christmas kids.
And a Very Very Happy Beautiful New Year too!
And a Very Very Happy Beautiful New Year too!
