Bio: Halle, Elsie (Christmas memory 1982)

Contact: Kathleen E. Englebretson

Email: kathy@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Halle, Pfefferkorn

----Source: Marshfield News-Herald (22 December 1982)

Sometimes my grandchildren think I'm a bit weird as they rummage through some of my old keepsakes. Little do they know how an old broken doll - not much left but the head - can still hold a beautiful memory of my first Christmas program.

My father was the minister of what today is the United Methodist Church. He taught us that the preacher's family was to set the example of Christian living. As I look back now, I am glad for such teaching even though some customs have a touch of humor now. One such tradition was that the minister's family always sat in the front row.

One year that rule was broken for two reasons. First, the Sunday School pupils used the front rows when they had their program. Because I was almost 4 years old and now in Beginners Class, I sat there for my first program and gave my first recitation.

The second reason was that I had a new baby brother born a month before so my mother sat in the back row in case he'd cry.

Excitement ran high as I sat there in the front row. Mother had made me a new dress. I had memorized my poem and was ready to say it on the platform in the beautifully decorated church. The Christmas tree glowed in all its splendor at the side.

The program began. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember that I went to the platform - "stood straight - spoke loudly - and put my right hand on my heart" - as I said the last line, "And Jesus come into my heart."

I don't remember the rest of the poem, but as I said that last line, my eyes drifted to the tree. My eyes lit up in sheer ecstasy. I rushed to my seat and whispered to my teacher so loudly that my mother, who was in the back row, and the whole congregation heard me say "I saw a doll."

The next morning, under our home Christmas tree sat "Dorothy," the doll I had seen under the church tree.

Through the years "Dorothy" was my best treasure. As I became a mother of three and grandmother of nine, parts of my Christmas doll have broken, but I still cherish all that's left of the once beautiful doll - the head and a few pieces of torn clothing. each year they continue to remind of that last line of my first Christmas poem as Jesus always continues to be with me, "Jesus come into my heart."

(Elsie Halle grew up in Eau Claire, where she later taught school. She also served as a county supervising teacher and later as Clark County superintendent of schools before her retirement. She and her husband, Arnold, live on a farm near Christie in Clark County. Her father was the late Rev. G.J. Pfefferkorn.)