
Thursday, December 25, 2008
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Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Everette Stubbs visits from Washington, DC

Alex McCrosky is enjoying time spent with his sister, Bea Tolsdorf, and husband, Drew, of Jackson.

The Steve Elgin family travelled to Pelahatchie, to spend the first part of the week with Kathy’s family.

Hamilton Seale of Bentonville, Ar., Andy Seale of Nashville, TN., and Dr. Ben and Ann Seale and son, Ayden, of Jackson, MS, are here for the holidays. They are staying with their parents, Ben and Robin Seale.

Hank Wheeler of Newnan, Ga., arrived Tuesday. He will be spending Christmas with Mary Clay and Gene Brooks and children, Caitlyn and Grady, and Laura and Kay Wheeler.

Diane and Jerry B. Beck and children, Kimball and Jake, of Glen, are spending Christmas Day with Jacque and Mike Kazemba and children, Hallie, Drew and Will, and Jerry Beck.

Billy and Tammy Cupp hosted the Cupp family Christmas on Monday night. Everyone enjoyed great food and a great time!

Happy birthday wishes go out to Vivian Smith, who celebrated on Sunday.

Everette Stubbs of Washington, D.C., is the holiday guest of his mother, Linda Stubbs. While here, he will make the rounds with all of his friends and other family members.

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261.

You may also e-mail your City Personal news to south@dixie-net.com).

Museuming
Lois Swanee Shipp
Museum Curator

75 years or more of Christmas memories in Holly Springs

Christmas memories of Holly Springs go back 75 years or more. We always had a big cedar tree, which was nice, green, available from the pasture, and it smelled wonderful in the house. I grew up in the Great Depression. Times were hard for everybody in the world, except me. I was blissfully happy in my ignorance of the real state of affairs but we ( according to me) didn’t seem to suffer at all. We all received about one present from Santa and we were happy with it.

The year I was 14, my mother had bad cancer and I was afraid she wouldn’t make it. I prayed and prayed for her and God answered my prayer. She live for 40 more years. She outlived her doctors, the undertaker, and the other florist.

We weren’t going to have a tree that year as Mother wasn’t able to decorate it but I had to have a tree. Mother had given away the ornaments like she did everything else to someone who needed or wanted them. Daddy put up a tree; this time I requested a pine tree. My friends and I made the ornaments, whipped up some snow from a box of Ivory flakes, and had a party getting ready. It was more fun making the decorations out of pine cones, sycamore balls, and nandina berries. Magnolia seed pod were too heavy.

Christmas dinner was always at noon. The cook helped Mother cook them and I remember the jam cakes that were my favorite. Also, Mother made a Waldorf salad of apples, walnuts and celery that was delicious. Mother had gotten that recipe out of her new White House Cookbook she had ordered from Washington. The first ladies put one out every year. I gave this one to the museum. We always had Bonds pound cake, which was a handed down recipe. It consisted of a pound of sugar, a pound of flour, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs (10), plus a teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt. It had to be cooked in a big wood stove for several hours.

Nearly everybody had a few chickens in the backyard for fresh eggs, and a lot had cows for milk and a horse just in case, but animals in town were going out of style and maybe they were gone by the end of World War II. Next to my house in the back, Henry Fort Gholson had his pet goats.

It was just life in a small town during the 1930s. Little did we know that in the next decade life would be changed forevermore. World War II homogenized the world. Instead of marrying the boy next door, some married a stranger from up north or some far away place like Australia.

At Christmas on the square, every store stayed open until 10 p.m. for a little more money that might come in. In Daddy’s store a clerk stood behind the counter and the customer pointed to what he wanted to buy. Crackers were loose and in barrels. Cheese was in a hoop. Dill pickles were in a jar. We also sold firecrackers and sparklers. I remember being in front of my daddy’s store waiting to go home. A big car was parked in front of the store. I’m swinging around one of the round poles holding the roof up and I decided to jump up and down on that big bumper of that big car. I began jumping and everything was right with the world when the ancient lady in the back of the car starts hitting the windshield with the walking cane and shouting for me to stop that jumping. Her chauffer had gone in my daddy’s store to buy meat for Christmas. The old lady was Mary Burton of Burton Place. My parents both scolded me good about such behavior. My scrawny, little 70-pound body could get in more trouble.

Forty years ago, a missionary from the Methodist Church told me about her first memory. She said the Methodist always put up a large tree and it had on it real candles that were lit. Santa Claus was coming up the aisle and all of a sudden the tree caught fire. Her father grabbed her up in his arms and the fire was out. (Thank goodness!) I don’t remember the missionary’s name but she was old then. She said God let her keep living so she could pray for all the younger ones.

I once asked my Uncle Grover to tell me about Christmas when he was little. He didn’t remember much but said he and his siblings each received a shiny dime and an orange; how about that?

My special wish for you is to have a wonderful Christmas. Remember the Reason for the Season and that is our Lord Jesus who has been around since the beginning of time. Do something for someone else besides yourself. Have love in your heart, joy in your soul and have peace.

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