Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The Newberry Sun, Newberry. S. C. Dec. 26th, 1968—PAGE 3—SEC. C Christmas at grandma’s is a disappearing American tra dition. Grandma doesn’t live on the farm any longer. She has an apartment in town, ac ross the street from the shop ping center and within walking distance of the church. Now it is grandma that does the visiting during the holiday season. In days of yore, Christmas was the one time of the year when all footsteps turned home ward. And, "home” was grand ma’s place in the country. Grandpa lived there too. I remember that he barked loudly but, as grandma always said, "His bark was a lot worse that his bite.” For the most part, he sat quietly before the fireplace, thoughtfully puffing on his corncob pipe, or lost somewhere in the passages of "The Good Book” that he must have read from cover to cover a thousand times. It was grandma who rushed to the door to greet sons and daughters, grandchildren, aunts and uncles. It was grand ma who "bossed” activities in the kitchen, who directed the trimming of the tree, who told people when to sit and when to stand — and obviously en joyed every moment of it. I remember Grandma’s house was filled with the most delicious odors in the world... meats and sweets, cakes and pies, evergreens and pine boughs. I remember how the sound of laughter rang throughout the old house and how echoes seem to remain until the most dominant sound was the "crackling” of hickory logs glowing red-hot in the fireplace. I remember awakening on Christmas morning, rushing down the steps, three at a time, hoping that all of the spots near the warm side of the tree had not been taken by earlier- risers. Grandma waited pa tiently, in her rocking chair, knitting away. Children sat in a circle around the tree, the side of the room nearest the fireplace filling up first, the others filling in beside them. Uncle John, old enough, and round enough to pose as Santa, passed out the presents. Grandma had long ago made a rule that none were opened until all had been given out and this rule was never violated. When Uncle John said, "That’s all”, the fun began and the wrappings and the ribbons flew here and there. Grandma always watched silently. Only when all others had opened their gifts did she start on the pile that had been placed before her. TO CHURCH Breakfast was never served at grandma’s house on Christ mas morning. Once the gifts had been distributed everyone put on their very best and "grandma’s caravan”, as the neighbors called it, headed church-ward, singing Christ mas carols all the way. After church, children had only a small amount of time to re-examine their gifts before grandma rang the bell on the back porch, the signal that the Christmas meal was on the table. Mere words could not do justice to the quality, nor the quantity, of the foods that a- dorned the table, that over flowed onto sideboards and card tables on the back porch. It was at this time, with his pipe nowhere in sight, that grandpa proved that he was not completely a man of few words. As heads, young and old, were bowed in silence, grandpa gave "thanks” for the good things of life, for the fel lowship and the companion ship of loved ones, and most especially, for a happy Christ mas Day. And, when he had finished, no one moved a fork until grandma had affirmed the mes sage with a solemn, "Amen.” Such was Christmas at grandma’s, a long, long time ago. "KrlM Kringle" T. B. Aldrich tells, in hU poem "Kriss Kringle”, of the lolly old fellow’s spyinff on his Christmas Eve round, an oriole’s nest. "Quite like a stocking,” he laughed, "Pin ned up there on the tree! Little I thought that the birds ex pected a present from me.” He put in something. joy. Thank you for your loyal patronage. QUAUTY SHOE SHOP 1105 Nance St.—Newberry S)t's always been our pleasure to serve you, thanks to your loyalty and good will. We hope that your holiday season will be spent joyously in the company of those you hold dear. Merry Christmas! NEWBERRY BEAUTY SHOP RUBY KINARD Phone 276-2083 1108 Harrington St Again, at this season of the year we wish to voice our gratitude to our friends whom it is our pleasure to serve. We esteem the continued patronage of our custom ers—and the confidence manifested in us by so many of you Newberrians. May we say in all sincerity that it ever shall be our desire to foster the kindly relations which exist between us, and we believe no more fitting demonstration of our attitude can be made than to re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of quality, keep our standards high and strive to merchandise our store so that you may always be better served. Carpenters Newberry