Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 25 December '85 55

Joyride III jjk By Libby Demp Forrest \J ] I always believed in Christmas even if No. 1 and No. 2 did not. ( I'm not talking about Santa Claus — because everyone belives in him, don't they? ) But when No. l and No. 2 were tots and little guys, I stuffed them with Christmas stories, breakfast with Santa, and Christmas excursions. When No. 1 was about three years old, I thought it would be exciting to take him through Macy's toyland the Saturday before Christmas. I'm talking about THE Macy's at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue, on the island of Manhattan. SO, WE GOT UP at dawn, drove for several hours, then fought our way through New York traffic to reach Macy's. We fought our way to toyland and entered a maze that seemed endless before we managed to fight our way out of it. The other day I asked No. 1 if he remembered that trip to New York. He thought for a minute and said no, he didn't remember being there at all. Then there was the time I insisted we take our annual trip to Meerwald's in South Dennis to see the wonderland of lights. No. 2 feel asleep in the car and when we got to Meerwald's, I tickled him under the chin to wake him up. But No. 2 wanted to sleep. I insisted he wake up and enjoy Christmas, and he finally did (wake up, that is), but he did not want to go out in the freezing cold and walk around looking at lights. I dragged him out of the car and had to carry him screaming around the 18,000 flashing lights while rain pelted us during our walk. THEN THERE WAS the year we made our annual pilgrimage to see the lights in Lower Township and No. 1 and No. 2 got into a fight in the back seat of the car. No. 1 gave No. 2 a right to the shoulder, and No. 2 spent the remainder of the trip screaming that he had a broken shoulder and we should drive directly to the hospital. The minute we reached home, No. 2's shoulder healed. I guess I could recollect endlessly about the years I took tots to see Santa Claus, standing in lines amongst crying babies and tired parents. Years when No. 1 and No. 2 refused to sit on Santa's lap, much less tell him anything. AND THEN there were the years when I asked them anxiously what they had told Santa they wanted for Christmas, and was told very firmly, "That's between me and Santa." Or about the years we hiked cookies, the kids generously pouring color sugar all over the kitchen floor or getting bored with the whole thing after decorating a half dozen cookies. But I persisted in my belief of a traditional Christmas and 1 like to think all those excursions and endeavors weren't in vain. I am older, but no wiser. I am still a believer, both in the spirit of Christmas af «i in Santa Claus. Many Traditions Shared, Borrowed — (From Page 54) beautiful carols "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." and "It Came Upon a Mid-Night Clear." We also have the dubious distinction of being responsible for the Christmas Club. WHEN TOASTING "Good Will to All Men" during the holiday season, think of all the fun, color and traditions that we have shared, borrowed and accepted from other cultures and look to future possibilities that will make for a livelier, different and distinctive world. Pledge not just a toast, but your hearts to help join the nations of the world in a quest for peace "for all mankind." Kathy Duffy of Goshen writes this newspaper's 'County Library' column. / i '' |K s -• Jfl Doris Word HOLIDAY GOODIES — Barbae Sutton, left. Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital cook, and dietician Donna Nieswander look over some of the gift plates hospital employes put together from the food, money, and toys they collected for needy families. Burdette's dietary department pitched in with chocolate chip cookies for the plates. They are distributed by local home health care agencies with some assistance from local bakeries.

■4 Christmas Customs: Both Old and Current

By DOROTHY FREAS The holidays are here! Christmas as usual! Buy the tree, the gifts, the turkey, send out cards, decorate the tree and the house, inside and out. It surprises many people that Dec. 25 was only set as the official Christ's Mass 350 years after Jesus' birth. However a moveable feast had been observed at the end of the first century A.D. by Christians. There were pagan holidays observed at the time of the winter solstice (Dec. 22) and these riotous feasts were also used as part of the Christian celebration. The church then compromised by using the least offensive pagan customs and adding other religious symbols in addition to the candles and tree branches of the pagan ways. OF COURSE early settlers in America brought to it their own country's traditional festivities. In Virginia's English colonies, dining, dancing, games and singing were "Christmas" to them. Meanwhile, the Dutch of New York (New Amster-

dam, then) had merry feasts, but there Saint Niclaes brought gifts for all. Strange to say, the religious Puritans observed no holy day, in fact, kept it as a work-day. Only after the 1850s did the sober citizens of New England adopt some of the happy holiday customs of the other states. Santa Claus evolved from St. Niclaes with the gift-giving believed to be his department, although modern family budgets question his help! CAROLING, a Christmas custom, originally was dancing, but the meaning has changed since medieval times, and the songs used became only church or Christmas songs. Now caroling on Christmas Eve has become an expression of love, for many churches have groups that gather to sing in hospitals, homes for the ill or aged, even in bus and railroad stations to cheer up listeners. Some go locally to the homes of shut-ins. To begin a carol and watch the window or door open to let the music be heard inside the

home, often to see the lame or ill person manage to get to the window to wave his thanks, gives each chilly singer a special blessing, knowing that he made one ^ person happy — and so off to the next home on the list. BEAUTIFULLY decorated Christmas trees are the symbol repeated in more than half the homes celebrating the holiday. Hopefully, there are still some trees where the children make paper chains and string popcorn to share in the fun. After all, paper lantern and paper cornucopias were pretty. Gifts usually make a colorful pile under the tree, but hanging stockings continues to be a fun custom for all. Around the end of the 19th century, a very wide, six feet long stocking, with the capacity to tylld almost all of the family packages, took the place of the tree and was the main item in the parlor of those days. That big stocking was packed away after the tree became a favorite. After all, a few weeks of 5tree selling each December, has resulted in a business earning far over

$60 million, proving the popularity of that part of the holiday customs. Christmas cards bring good wishes from friends and neighbors but the ones we usually linger over as we open them are those that bring old memories and thoughts of a now distant past. WITH ALL THESE old customs, the finest happening at Christmas is that warm feeling toward everyone and a ready smile for all around us. Let's all try to carry that loving spirit of Christmastime throughout the days that follow the celebration of it. Dorothy Freas regularly writes 'Lookin and Listen' for this newspaper from Villas.

Have a FestIve ClmisTMAs witIi aLI I ThE TRiMMilNQS . . . liltE Joy AN(t Love . . . Peace an<I ■ Contentment . . . LAuqhTER anc) B i . HAppy, Hippy SmUES. fl nAf ■ > J It is our siNCERE hope tIiat you ENjoy iT All IN qREAT AbuNdANCE, ■ (, » duniNq The holidAys ANd fl TkRouqhouT tIie New Year. ■ FIRST SAVINGS AND fl ■Mf LOAN ASSOCIATION V . „ 137 J.F. KENNEDY BLVD., > H ■■ . j ^ SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. 08243 j^M^fl B ■■ *" 1 wk^m 263-7823 £»| WE WILL BE CLOSED Wednesday, December 25, 1985 ™ CHRISTMAS DAY 1 ^ , We Will Close At 3:00 Dec. 24, 1985 ^