I consider it a special privilege to be able to provide a column for this newspaper on Christmas Day. Every day of the year is special for me, but Christmas, by far, is the most special day of all.

I can use this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the members of the Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. We have enjoyed working with so many people throughout Robeson and surrounding counties in so many ways during this past year. We hope we have been able to provide you the assistance, support, and information you wanted and needed.

Although times have changed so much from when we were children, it is evident that the Christmas season is still a time for us to reflect on the many blessings in our lives. It is a special time for all of us to enjoy being with family and friends and to revere and celebrate the true meaning of this holiday season.

I imagine that Christmas is as special to young children today as it was to me when I was a child. When you are young, it seems that Christmas will never come. But when you reach my age, it seems that Christmas comes much too quickly each year.

I remember the excitement of waiting for Christmas. I remember spending hours studying the Sears catalog and trying to pick out that one gift that I wanted Santa Clause to bring to me each year. I could choose only one gift, and I had to make sure that it was exactly what I wanted. I never had any assurance that I was going to get what I asked for, but the anticipation of what would be under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning was almost more than I could bare.

I remember going into the woods with my brother and cutting that perfectly shaped cedar tree. Growing up on a farm gave us the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the woods during the fall as we played and hunted not only on our farm but on the adjoining farms as well. We knew where the perfect Christmas tree was well before we were allowed to cut it and bring it to the house.

I remember that it was a special day for my brother and I when we were allowed to cut that tree and bring it home. We helped our mother get the tree into the stand and place it in that special place in the living room. We also knew where the prettiest holly trees were. The ones with the most and biggest red berries of all the other holly trees in the woods.

I remember my brother and I climbing up into the holly trees to cut the branches our mother would need to decorate the house and to trim the tree. We filled our little red wagon with arm loads of holly branches, just to make sure we had enough for all the decorating that my mother would do.

I remember gathering mistletoe from the old gum trees along the swamp as we pulled the wagon back to the house. I also remember cutting boughs from small pine trees we passed along the way, because our mother needed them to not only make our Christmas decorations look good but to smell good as well.

I remember being allowed to stay up late that night as our entire family decorated our tree. We strung popcorn on long strings and wound it around the tree. We ate a lot of popcorn as well.

Our mother traced Christmas items on colored paper and my brother and I cut them out and hung them on the tree. She made special Christmas candies that we placed on the tree. We nibbled on the candy while she was not watching, but I learned years later that she always made much more candy than was needed for the tree, so we could nibble all we wanted.

I remember the excitement of Christmas morning as my brother and I jumped out of bed and ran to the living room to see what Santa had left for us. I remember how exciting it was to take the Christmas stocking down from the mantel to find it filled with oranges, apples, tangerines, a few pieces of candy, and maybe a pack of BBs for my BB gun.

As you enjoy this Christmas day, I hope you are able to see the same excitement in the eyes of your children and grandchildren. They probably will be receiving many more toys than we did when we were children, and the toys they receive will most likely be much more elaborate than the ones we received. But they will be just as excited.

Christmas is and always will be a special time of the year. We may age, but the tradition and meaning of Christmas will never change and the special memories of all our Christmases will be with us throughout our lives.

Have a Merry Christmas and an enjoyable Holiday Season.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 1/6/04