Skip to main content

Small Town Christmas

 So we stood there, my wife and I, looking at a train display in the window of a small bank, my eyes as wide as saucers as I watched the toy train chug around the track.  One of the cars had a moveable searchlight on it, and that brought back warm memories.

                My wife said something to me but I had already traveled back in time to when I was 8 years old and my brother and I were playing with a train set that took up the entirety of my grandmother’s dining room.   One of the rail cars on her train set had a search light on it too, another car had a missile that you could shoot up and into the tree; which was exactly what my brother and I were doing; trying to knock ornaments down.  

Sort of looks like me.  Even has a beer.

                Even today I swear that every Christmas packages were as high as the roof as chorales sang of old kings and new and it always snowed on Christmas day.  Memories of my father dressed up as Santa year in and year out as generation after generation sat on his leg.

                My mother asked my brother and I why we did not wish to take over for him…it was, for me at least, my father’s job.  No other person, not even his sons, would ever replace him as Santa. 

                I thought about all this as my wife and I shopped the small Mom and Pop stores near us.  We were really not looking for anything specific; we were just out enjoying the day and the sights of a small town Christmas.

              
    A little girl who probably didn’t realize how much she looked liked Cindy Lou Who was getting her picture taken in front of a Grinch display while off in the distance a high school band was playing “Silent Night.”

      Living in the middle of farmland the way we do it wasn’t uncommon to pass a decorated tractor or other piece of farm equipment.  Recently the nearby Stoneboro Fairgrounds had an event that was exactly that!  

     For the first time since my mother died last October, I felt that I had the Christmas spirit.   It’s not a bad feeling.

      I’m not a religious person; knowing all the pagan myths behind the holidays.  However far be it from me to deny anyone’s need to believe in something.  I think this desire to believe in something greater than ourselves is actually one of the defining traits of humanity. 

      After all, isn’t Christmas about family and community?    

      In some ways the “Christmas Spirit” is strong this year.  Last year everything was smaller, more confined and subdued.  It seemed like we did everything twice or three times last year as we wanted family to see our new home, but also had to make sure that everyone felt safe and secure in the visit. 

      So it feels good to mingle with strangers as we shop the small shops and share a cup of cocoa with a young Amish family.  

A Candy Display at a shop.

      Each of the small towns near us are holding similar events, but on different days which allows families to partake in as many as possible.   This time of year really is for the kids.

    It also helps that I've been involved with the local Odd Fellows, who are doing a variety of charity events going into the new year.  So maybe, just maybe this old City Mouse is enjoying the holiday season in the country.   Just maybe his heart will grow three times its normal size too.  You just never know. 

    Be sure to check out and like our Facebook page too.  Bring a little joy into as many lives as possible. 

Labels:
Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

Maybe we need to rethink invasive species???

Hi. As the writer of the post and feel that I need to clarify something. I do not advocate the planting of invasive species. The point that I'm trying to make, and clearly didn't, is that perhaps we should be thinking about an invasive species in a different light. Apples, figs and other crops are clearly non native to America and Europe but are widely cultivated because they have use to humans as a food source, animal feed, etc. Kudzu is an edible plant and although it is clearly harmful can it be used someway by humans? It's a food source, it's been used as a cloth and is showing some use as a building material. All I'm trying to do is to create discussion on how we can use invasive plants in new ways.   It's mid April here in Western Pennsylvania and so far it's been warm and wet.  The buzz of lawnmowers fill the air as I gallivant through my back yard collecting dandelions to make some tea and bread with them.  I had always known that they w...
1 comment
Read more

Honoring the past - Thinking more about "invasive" plant species.

 Recently I've been giving some thought to invasive species.  I had received both positive and negative feedback on the blog post concerning kudzu and recently I came across a very well hidden, and very small, wild cherry tree while doing some yard work.  Since it's against the house it would have to be removed since the root systems could damage my foundation.   A buddy of mine at work was asking if I was going to transfer it, his logic being that it was a fruiting tree that would not only attract a variety of pollinator's but that the deer would eat the bark and cherries, keeping them away from the garden (which Sue and I swore we were not going to do this year).  It occurred to me that I was going to have to do a slightly better job of identification, since black cherries are native to America , where as other types of cherries are not.  Being able to make a precise identification would be helpful.   I used to be able to identify all these tre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Random Parts and Pieces - Let's pretend we're dead

 Before my mother passed back in October of 2020, she and my dad has basically consolidated their lives to a small 2 room apartment building.   In the brutal logic that both my mom and dad practiced it made sense.   Less to maintain as they grew older meant less to worry about. Their sons were married and had moved away from home a long time ago. They didn't need much or wanted much.  They lived simple lives and would rather spend their days on things they enjoyed like watching a family of deer romp in a field that their balcony overlooked.  Going out to dinner and spending time with loved ones and family. When she passed unexpectedly and Gary, my brother, and I cleaned out the apartment, we were still amazed by the junk they had accumulated.   Somehow, we managed to get through the days.  When my dad passed , it was a little easier to not only deal with his passing, but to clean what he had left in his bedroom. The original paint and d...
2 comments
Read more