Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Paul Richardson: Memories of Christmas

Last week in our little city began like it does every year prior to the first full weekend in December.

On the Thursday prior to the first full weekend, the annual ceremony for activating the Christmas lights in Big Spring Park takes place. That is followed on Saturday by the Annual Christmas Parade. I can’t recall the theme for the parade this year. It doesn’t affect us much as we just decorate the fire truck and go.

This year along with the theme for the parade, I believe that the word for the week was mayonnaise. I can even use it in a sentence: 

Mayonnaise a lot of kids present! For those of you who didn’t pick up on that, let me clarify now as I can’t afford to lose any readership. 








Close your eyes and say it out loud. If it still doesn’t make sense, think of it this way; Man, they’s a lot of kids present! Does that help? Didn’t want to lose anyone as we move on as I am apt to pursue additional phonetic based compositions.

The crowds for each of these events were the largest I can recall. Both evenings were pleasant and mild. The temperatures were quite comfortable making participation in an outdoor event enjoyable. That may have been a contributing factor, but none the less, our little city came alive as the Christmas lights were activated and later for a forty-five-minute parade of all the items that rural America is known for.

It starting to look like Christmas in 2019 but we all have those special moments when Christmas memories were made that remain forever. I can’t recall every Christmas in my past. Mayonnaise a lot of them as it turns out. 

While there are some where I cannot recall the year and specifics, I happen to still have the major gift that I received that year. There is a cast tractor and implements from some distant Christmas in the past. A tool set made for a young child, but with functional tools. 

In order to restore the tool set, I had to trade out some newer tools to my dear mother and even my goodwife as they had taken tools from the set for use. Then there is the stamped Buddy-L pickup with overhead camper, station wagon, pop-up camper and boat with trailer. The plastic top off of the pop-up camper is missing as is the boat. 

So, the remaining part of the collection is the pickup with overhead camper, station wagon with broken down suspension, a empty box trailer that used to be a pop-up camper and a boat trailer. At least that much has made it these sixty-plus years!

Then there are the memories, great ones and too many to list here. Last week will add to the memories as community came together to celebrate the onset of this Christmas season. Mayonnaise were a lot of kids there! Just letting you know; it is really hard to write like that!

(Paul Richardson's The Horse I Rode In On is published weekly in the Neosho Daily News, Neosho Post and on the Turner Report.)

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