Richard Froese
South Peace News
Now in his early 90s, Louis Dumont still has some memories of Christmas as a young child.
“People were poor,” says Dumont, 92, who came to Falher in 1930 and now makes his home in McLennan at the Manoir du Lac.
“We got such little for Christmas, we usually got candy.”
Sometimes it would be something more practical.
“We got some clothes, pants and shirts, enough to keep you going,” Dumont says.
“Mom made most of them, and bought us a few.”
He was the youngest of 10 children in the family.
“We opened out gifts Christmas morning before breakfast,” says Dumont, who was born in Neville, Saskatchewan.
“We wanted to see what we got.”
Cutting down a Christmas tree was a fun time for the young boy.
“I don’t remember that much,” Dumont says.
“We walked into the bush and cut down a Christmas.”
It was always a chore for the children.
“We tied the tree to one or two horses that pulled the tree home,” Dumont says.
“There weren’t that many cars in those days.”
The fun continued inside the house.
“We all helped decorate the tree,” Dumont says.
“I had a sister who was more decorative.”
All the decorations had a special touch.
“They were all handmade,” Dumont says.
“I was too young to make decorations.”
Christmas dinner was traditional and served on Christmas Day in the afternoon around the Dumont dinner table.
“We usually had turkey,” Dumont says.
He also remembers special desserts made by his mother, but can’t recall anything specific.
“She always made baking for the family,” Dumont says.
Christmas in school was also fun.
He says he went to the Smith Read School in Whitemud Creek south of Falher.
About 30 students from grades 1-8 were part of the school.
“At school, we had a party,” Dumont says.
“Sometimes the teacher gave gifts to students.
“We must have got something.”
The Dumonts were also part of a Catholic Church in Whitemud Creek.
“We had a Christmas Eve mass,” Dumont says.
“There would have been 30-40 people in the church and sometimes the children sang.
“It’s hard to remember all those years.”