The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, December 27, 1956, Image 11
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.
.
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season with
cause k is d
to sell oar
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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