Winter is so drab, isn’t it? Nature has very little color, nights are dark and public and church gatherings are filled with hacking, annoying coughs. Your skin is dry, tight and itchy. The only thing worse than winter in Atmore is winter in north Alabama and the northern United States. Wow, how do folks up there tolerate such cold and unpleasant conditions? It is no wonder they say Florida is sinking due to so many folks trekking southward during this season.

I’d be willing to bet that Thomas Gray pinned his famous poem “Ode to a Country Churchyard” during the winter months. Surely no other season of the year could have inspired him other than winter. It is no wonder the mythical Paul Bunyan depicts winter as the dominant season for chopping firewood and logs in the great Midwest. And, you wonder how those mushing huskies can maneuver through all that snow as they move onward in the great Iditarod race. Only in winter can things like this occur.

I have heard of some people who won’t display a winter picture on their walls because of their dislikes for the season. And, some refuse to watch TV shows that are filmed in freezing weather conditions. I read about one man who lived in a snowy climate and never went outside to scrape ice from his automobile. He paid a young man to do it for him. Some will not sit down to eat a meal unless there is a bowl of fresh fruit on the table to remind them the next season will be spring. I’m told one couple up north refuses to go to their mailbox regularly because of cold and extreme conditions.

In case you were not aware of it winter did, indeed, makes its appearance this past week. We can now add a few seconds to each day and add a few minutes to each day next month as we tolerate these deplorable conditions. That’s one good thing we have to look forward to, is longer days. Longer days in winter? Please, give me a break. This should be the month of shorter days. We can always tolerate the longer nights because we can sleep through them.

Now, I should be ashamed of myself for writing in this manner because there is one occasion that makes winter the most important season of the year. And, that is Christmas day, the day we praise and give thanks to our dear Savior’s birth. This is the day we sing “Noel”, “Go Tell it On The Mountain” and even “The Little Drummer Boy.” Enjoying the fresh green cedar or fir taken from the woods, emitting a certain good fresh aroma of the woods, is most fitting when it is resting in the den or living room at Christmas time.

This is the season when families travel from near and far to gather together and share gifts and lift our hearts and give praise to our risen Savior. It’s also the time we partake in eating too much, if there is such a way to measure how one really eats “too much.”

So, now as I bring a close to a very short and brief column here’s wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and eventful holiday season.

There will be more news coming next year with columns containing news and events in the lives of your friends, parents and grandparents that will forever be archived in the cherished library at The Atmore Advance.

Again, have a wonderful holiday season.

Next week I will have more news from days gone by.

 

You can email Lowell McGill at exam@

frontiernet.net.