Christmas memories
Welcome back to more routine week following the Christmas week. The weather is better, and maybe none of you have COVID-19. My caregiver was on leave for her Christmas holiday, but it was cold and I didn’t take my cards to a maildrop. Several days ago, she drove me to Arvest Bank, and I saw a dead-looking plant, which as children my sister and I would roll the leaves in brown paper, light up and smoke! The caregiver said “Rabbit Tobacco.” Eventually I should identify this plant when it is growing and green and learn what it is and why use the word rabbit?
Charline Knight called about 6:30 p.m. one day to say she could see the Neptune and Jupiter conjunction, that they appeared to be about one inch apart.
The next night the sky was not as clear and they were still apart. Some TV news channels had good images. Did such conjunction occur during the time of the birth of Jesus the Christ to lead the Wise Men to Bethlehem?
On Christmas Eve, AR Public Broadcasting System aired a long program from St. Luke’s (Minnesota) which beautiful music by a very large choir and orchestra. Feature were Richard Thomas (still looking like John-Boy Walton, but with a bit more weight) and Kelli O’Hara (operatic voice, perfect face, who changed her formal dress several time during her special numbers). The Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah, was superb.
Earlier in November, Richard Thomas portrayed the father of eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon who wrote a letter to the Editor of New York’s Sun newspaper. Thomas read the reply in an unsigned editorial written Sept. 21, 1897. The editorial was written by newsman Francis Pharcellus Church, and has become history’s most reprinted editorial, in dozens of languages, in books, movies, and on posters and stamps. The letter from Virginia and the complete editorial was printed on Dec. 24 in the Malvern Daily Record.
Hot Springs Village radio provided Christmas music from the first of December. An announcer at the station stated that “Let It Snow, “was written in July, and recorded in a very hot studio for workers who wished for cooler weather. Nothing in the song mentions Christmas.
On 25 Dec., the MDR printed that James Lord Pierpont wrote “Jingle Bells,” which was not intended to be a Christmas song. Two different cities claim the honor of the birthplace (Medford, Massachusetts, and Savannah, Georgia, 1857). The MDR listed the words for the entire melody.
“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. Luke 2:1 (KJV)” The Baxter Black column in the Southern Standard, Dec. 23, was titled “The Last Burro.” It is a touching story about an older donkey which carried Mary, who was with child, on the journey. The burro was in another part of the barn and heard the shepherds and was later visited by Mary and the man-child. They were with the old burro when he died.
Betty Jean Sanders, 86, was predeceased by parents, Poley “N.B.” and Ethel Ora Southerland Tucker, husband, Harold Joe Sanders, seven siblings. Survivors include five children: Christopher and Jeffrey Sanders, Shelley Burks, Rebecca Graves, Linda Melancon, 13 grandchildren, seven great grands, two sisters, Wilma Lee and Patricia Robbins (Doyce). Graveside services will be on December 31 in the Oma Cemetery with Richard Graves officiating. Davis-Smith Funeral Home.
One item mentioned Christmases past, but I found nothing about any event in the Arkansas Gazette for the 20th Century. On 23 January 1973, Lyndon B Johnson, the US 36th President died at age 64. On 28 Jan. 1973, the Vietnam War was over. On 21 Jan. 1981, the 52 hostages who had been held in Iran were freed. Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the US. On 29 Jan 1986, the space shuttle exploded, killing crew, which included teacher, Christa McAuliffe. On 22 Dec. 1988, Pan-Am jumbo jet crashed and all 258 passengers died in Syracuse NY. On 22 Dec. 1991, eleven Republicans unite, lay U.S.S.R to rest.
Kittie Dukakis, movie star, once gestured with the thumb, forefinger, and little finger extended and two middle fingers folded down. It is shorthand for the American Sign Language symbol for “I love you.”