Well my Friend's , here we are at the last month of the year, with every important day gone but Christmas; the best natured holiday of them all. As always, it comes just in time to keep us from concentrating on the mind numbing sameness of winter days, wrapping the year up in a bright, homey package. Luckily, for those of us who live here, in my little town. It's such a pretty little town in in its setting of steep, rolling hills, that every day of every season has its own sort of beauty. The winter sun is kind to these ancient mountian ridges, striking colors that are different every day and giving a hospitable glow to all the little houses nestled in on the hillsides. My town, to its everlasting credit, still looks like woodsmoke, firelight and home to anyone who ever lived here.

For most people, there are two times in the long year that they want to see the home town, the home folks and the scenes of their childhood. One is in the fall, when the leaves turn and bring a bitter-sweet nostalgia with their falling, reminding us all that everything must die, and we need to revisit our lives. But the other is Christmas, which celebrates family life at its very best; the kindness and sharing of people who have become dear to each other and want to be together. Christmas is a month's worth of good cheer . The lighting-up we do for Christmas warms up a whole town, I've always had to exercise sanity in this mattet of lights. :o) I would like to stertch lights from one end of our house to the other, a blazing fanfare of twinkling lights for every Christmas bound traveler to see. Good sense tells me that a woman of my age shouldn't be crawling and climbing to high places. :o( Sooo going to do just a little this year. I've put a tree on my entry porch (( I've got three porches and a gazebo that in years past i''ve had a tree on each of them)) and I've placed my big Christmas wreath on the front of the house to welcome Christmas company in case I have some.

What all of us here are looking forward to is the Christmas parade, which each year, to our amazement, lives up to everyone's expectations. There is no such thing as "Well, they can't beat last year's parade" because last year's was held in a chilly, misling rain, but the people who build floats and decorate vehicles are always out to outdo the previous year anyway. :o) Of all the holidays, Christmas is the time of lights and good will and the Christmas Parade has worlds of both. But the very best thing it shines with I think, is a sense of home that represents every little town and community in our County. It's a parade that takes time to have little kids on tricycles and pulling coaster wagons, with town dogs keeping them companyIt's a parade with horses and boats and old cars looking their best , trucks and trailers full of celebraters and gleaming with lights, fire engines and police cars with sirens and more lights to build the excitement. It's a noisy, festive, glittering way to go into winter and we all make the most of it. Like our city crew who each year climb ladders and poles to put up our street light decorations, we are all part of this best of holidays. Wherever you are, we'll remind you of HOME.