By Dan Geohagan
The Parsons Advocate
Tucker County, WV – The holiday season is bustling with sounds and lights. It is a time in which we often reflect on some special memory with the family or tradition with friends. I went out to the community to find some of our people who would like to share some of those memories with us.
“My favorite Christmas holiday tradition growing up, was that my mom always got us an ornament and would put it in our stocking from Santa,” Said Summer Gwynn. “So over the years, we have collected all of these ornaments and she puts them on the tree every year for us. We get to see what we liked each year and how we have grown into adults cause we’re all grown up now.”
“On Christmas Eve, we open our stockings,” Said Shayna Murdock. “and it’s a tradition that every year you buy a family member and ornament for the tree and that is what you open on Christmas Eve in your stocking.”
There are many different ways that we reflect on Christmas. Sometimes it is something comedic that our loved ones do.
“My favorite tradition was that my brother would sneak in to all the presents and tell us what all we would be getting!” Said Angie Swisher.
“I was maybe seven or eight, and we lived in Leadmine at the time,” Said Britainey Jones. “And that was when snow came down! It was so deep my sister and I dug tunnels through the snow. I remember Christmas morning opening up presents and then our dad taking us out and play till our lips turned blue. Then we’d go inside drink some hot chocolate, play with our toys then go back out.”
“My brother would be waiting for Santa with a baseball bat,” Said Lizzy Fenner. “He wanted to know if he was real or not.”
Sometimes though the traditions that we pass down are those of the humbling type. The ones that remind us how much we have in family and in love.
“Our favorite tradition and memory is going around on Christmas Eve and Christmas day giving to needy children,” Said Rebecca Myers. “Our children were all adopted and so they knew what it was like not to have anything. It is fun to see the looks on the other children’s faces, so we wrap up a bunch presents and instead of giving to our kids, our kids give back to other children.”
“When my kids were young, like four and seven I went to Wal-Mart and bought a helium kit,” Said Rodney Nelson. “The night before Christmas I took the small helium tank and I filled up all those balloons. She (wife) took them and put glue and glitter on all of them. We did this really late at night so that the balloons wouldn’t lose any helium. When the kids got up, every ceiling in the whole house had balloons with glitter on them. When the kids saw them they were like “Oh my! Look what Santa did!” So then they asked all the kids in the neighborhood, “Did Santa leave balloons for you?” That is one of the most memorable times for me.”
Parents often make the memories something that as we get older we tend to appreciate like this story.
“Every year my mom lets my siblings and I open one present on Christmas Eve early as to get them off of her back about hounding for presents and that kind of stuff,” Said Ethan Noakes. “And every year, they still haven’t caught on that it’s always pajamas so that they can wear them in the morning so that she can get a good photo of them.”
“When I was little we would go to my paternal grandparents house on Christmas Eve, and we would have a gift exchange,” Said Angie Shockley. “I was the oldest of the cousins in that family and we would put all of the presents in the middle of the floor and it looked like a mountain, huge mountain of presents. It was the best night of the year for me. When I got older, I moved in to my grandparent’s house and I sat in the living room one night which was a small room, and tried to figure out how we had a mountain of presents in that tiny little room. Then I realized the perspective of a child versus an adult it really was a magical Christmas.
Most importantly, this time of the year is to remember the reason for the season. Here, Father Grassi shares his favorite part of Christmas.
“I especially appreciate remembering going to midnight mass, and experiencing the special procession of the priest and the alter boys carrying in the baby Jesus to place in the crib. Experiencing the wonderful choir and the music, to celebrate the festivity of Christmas along with the incense and seeing the environment filled with the spiritual aspects of things just bringing me closer to God.”
Whatever your traditions or memories are, remember to share them with all of the ones you love and have a Merry Christmas.
