At the store, Mr. Clance put in his order for Christmas including 2 cases of oranges, a case of apples, a case of raisins (with the stems on), 10 pounds of brazil nuts, (known as nigger toes), 10 pounds of English walnuts, a big jar of soft peppermint sticks, a box of chocolate covered cherries, and a box of chocolates with the soft creamy centers. Mr. Clance had a big family and Christmas morning for the children meant a good supply of fresh fruit, plus plenty of candy and nuts. In addition, there might be a bicycle and maybe some clothes and supplies for school.

While neighbors were in the store buying supplies and placing their order of Christmas fruit, nuts, and candy, the chill'un were outside shooting fireworks. Fireworks and Christmas at Myrick's Mill were then as common as fireworks and the Fourth of July today. Now, it all seems to be a rather strange combination. Then, it was perfectly natural; Fireworks were available at the store during every Christmas season.

It was Saturday evening when Daddy closed the store for the night and walked up the path to the house. Mamma had supper on the table when he came in and we sat down immediately to eat. We always sat at the table for every meal. Daddy tells Mamma that JC and Thelma invited us over to their house to watch television tonight. The year was 1952 and television had only been available for a couple of years.

Mr. JC and Miss Thelma were the only folks in the community that had a television; So, they had a lot of company on Friday and Saturday nights. The little picture in the great big cabinet always had a lot of white fuzz or snow on the screen that made the black and white picture hard to see. Many of the shows were called comedies that including some man standing up telling jokes. Red Skelton was a funny man because he acted out his jokes through characters like Clem Kadiddlehopper, the hobo. Milton Berle was another. I was too young to think Milty was funny but the grown ups liked him. He would tell jokes for a while then the jokes were interrupted so Milty could tell us about Texaco gasoline as they showed the big red star which, of course, was black and white on the television. Stop at the sign of the Star, he'd say. Hey! Do you remember the entertainer with the famous sign off "Good night Mrs. Callabash, where ever you are".

Every Christmas, there was a special program that was repeated years; White Christmas with Bing Crosby. The show was mostly a lot of singing. Strangely, many of the early shows had someone begin singing in the middle of a talking scene. It all seemed so odd to be watching Roy and Trigger chasing a bank robber through the badlands, then all of a sudden Dale appears in the middle of the chase to sing a lullaby.

Christmas was only a week away when Mr. Harley stopped by the store late one afternoon to buy some cigarettes and a coke. "You and Nell come us to the house tonight; We're gonna make some eggnog." Sitt'in by the fire, and eating eggnog from a cup with a spoon was an annual Christmastime event at Mr. Harley's and Miss Selma's house. I liked to go too, because it was happy time. Everybody was laughing and telling stories while sitting by the fireplace. Also, my friend, Ophelia would be there. I never had any brothers and sisters. Although, we never thought of it in such a way back then, you could say that Ophelia was sort of my sister. She lived closer to our house than any of the little boys in the community, so we spent a lot of time together especially before we started to school.

During one of our Christmas visits, Mr. Harley told us about the awful crying and wailing that he heard one night down at the barbeque pit near the road about 200 yards below their house. He awoke one night to an eerie sound that he described as something like the scream of a woman in serious distress. He continued the story of how he got his shotgun, went into the yard and began walking toward the barbeque pit. It was in a tree near the pit………. a black panther. Not many people had seen panthers, but occasionally someone would stop by the store and report of one being sited or heard somewhere in the community. There were other fireside stories that made those visits special.

Christmastime ; a mixture of the everyday combined with visiting Myrick's Mill neighbors.

©2003 - William C. Humphries, Jr.