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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1956 THE NEWBERRY SUN SECTION 3—PAGE 3 In this busy old world, it may often appear that we neglect or forget those we hold dear. But at Christmas time, we take this space to say That we value your friendship each and every day! To each of you . •. A Very Merry Christmas! <}fa <*! Tfce miracle that is Christmas shines for os again. And as we come to this day,,,so foB of meaning, may we be worthy lo iuJ6U that wonder., not Bfct with tmt with good fives and coofjpm I MURRAY LUMBER COMPANY 913 Cline Street Phone 80 Newberry, S. C. RIDICULOUS PRESENT BY SHIRLEY SARGENT Y OU never can tell what's going to happen around our house at Christmas. Like the time Father brought a donkey home. We didn’t get to keep it very long on account of town regulations; still. I’ll bet we’re the only family in all Bit- teroot that ever got a real, live, smelly donkey for a present. An other time when we were down to eating canned goods and the stuff our garden grows. Father came home with soap for everybody. Boxes of it. Enough to last for any way a thousand baths, I guess, and all moulded in animal shapes. All in lurid colors and smelling strongly. Mother always protested. “That’s so impractical, Clem! Just a waste of good money.” And Father always answered by sweeping her off her feet. “It was a sale, honey; a real rooting, toot ing bargain.” And we always wondered what he’d bring next—even when we were disappointed by his gift. See, there’s six of us kids and one time Father bought a lot of unmarked canned goods that turned out to be alphabet soup. Pretty sickening after about ten meals. iltli « ft:* "Sure, I’ve got a present for us all. In Just a few minutes, it’s coming right to the door.” Anyway, here it was Christmas Eve again and Father hadn’t come in from his current job yet. Around the tree we had conventional gifts —nice ones mostly—but like Father said, it’s impossible to find six spe cial presents so if he could find just one— I guess you know by now that we all thought Father was the great est. I mean he could have brought (in fact he did once) nothing but balloons and we still would have loved it. Even Mother, for all her protests, enjoyed the suspense. I guess that was the best part, be cause some of us were bound to be let down when we saw what we’d been waiting for. At last we heard his footsteps and stampeded to open the front door for him. He came in all red from the cold and happy-faced at seeing us, but he didn’t have any thing in his arms. I saw that right away and, as the others did, the room got real quiet. Surprisingly, it was Mother who voiced our disappointment. “No bargains, Clem? No ridiculous present this year?” No Laughing Matter Father laughed and sat down in front of the fireplace he’d painted on the plaster wall. Four of the little ones piled on him, searching his pockets. Nothing exceptional there either, just the usual assort ment of marbles, gum, jacks, and penny whistles. “Ridiculous? Im practical?” But then he must have seen by our faces how upset we were for he sobered. “Sure, I’ve got a present for us all. In just a few minutes, it’s com ing right to the door.” So the suspense wasn’t over and our wild guesses went unanswered until we heard a strange noise out side. Horses hooves! “Not another donkey?” Mother groaned as we rushed to the front door. • It wasn’t though. Golly, no. Out side there were two solid-looking horses hitched to a wagon load of hay. The younger children raced out, but the rest of us just ques tioned. “Are they ours to keep?” “Just for one night,” Father ex plained. “Just for Christmas Eve and it’s up to you characters to de cide what you want to do and where you want to go.” That’s all he said. That’s all be needed to say. “Let’s ride all over town and ring bells,” one of my brothers suggested. "You know— a sleigh ride like you read about in books.” Well, we had an old wind-up phonograph that Father had given us one Christmas, and we had eight lusty voices. “Not good, but loud,” Mother said. And she was so right. You know, we went all over Bit- teroot singing like mad. And doors opened and windows lighted and other voices joined in as we trotted along until half the town seemed to be following the wagon and all the town singing of that glorious night of old. We sounded great. Loud and good and heartfelt. s OUR chRistrms pRAyeR The day of joy returns and crowns another year with peace and good will. May we remember the birth of the Christ that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds and the worship of the wise men. May we open the doors of love everywhere and may kindness come with every gift and good wishes with every greeting. May we truly be merry as we reverently observe this Christmas Day. J. F. Hipp & Son CONTRACTOR AND BUILDER BUILDING MATERIAL Phone 309-J Newberry, S. C. May your Holidays ring with joy and laughter, and may Christinas bring you the best of everything! W. H. Davis & Son, Inc. 1223 McKIBBEN STREET Newberry, S. C. . - 'V ' :<.35 *■ afe'.wSaMi £ •. ****?»■■ f-- .*.•* season with cause k is d to sell oar f for rich tfori Because we aee proud to nwn- ber yoa atnoog oar friends, and because we are grateful for yomr patronage, we send and with k oar sn Christmas wS be 4 Newberry Concrete Company [ “It’s Easy to Fix with Redi-Mix! : Don’t Forget to see us for the very best in concrete products, masonry sup plies and Redi-Mixed Concrete 844 Fair Street Phone 703 Newberry, South Carolina