Happy New Year! It’s hard to remember to say 2018, but it won’t take too long for it to roll off our tongues. It was the same in 1992, 25 years ago.

Just as it is every year, many people take a holiday during the week from Christmas to after New Year’s Day. Some of us have to work, or choose to work. By the time you read this, New Year’s will be over and everything will slowly get back to normal. Just as it is quiet in town, there’s not much going on to put into the newspaper. I know from experience that it is hard to pin someone down during this time for an interview. Most of what is happening still has much to do with the Christmas season that has just passed.

There was an article written by Dru Rush (you know, Pig Daddy’s Barbecue) about the comparison of live Christmas trees and fake trees.

This article expressed all the sights, sounds and smells of the differences in live trees and fake ones.

When I was growing up, we always had a live tree, but as I grew older, we did get a fake one. We even had one of those awful aluminum ones.

One can’t get a lot of enjoyment out of a tree that doesn’t smell like a tree. When I was growing up, we lived during some hard times, but it costs nothing to wander through the woods looking for that perfect cedar tree.

My grandfather drove a school bus, but my brother and I rode home on someone else’s bus. At least once a year we rode home with Granddaddy.

We would get an ax and set out through the woods checking them all to be sure to get the right one. After a couple of hours, and just before dark, we would find it. My brother chopped it down and we dragged it to the house. About the time we got there, Daddy would arrive to pick us and the tree up to take home.

To this day I can remember the smells of evergreens and the nip in the air as we wandered through those woods.

How do you compare that with a fake tree? It is no fun to put it together and then poke branches into holes on a pole. Who can sit around and enjoy that?

I found a feature in the paper about a lady named Alene Kelly who had crocheted a tablecloth and gave it to the American Legion Auxiliary to raffle to make money for veterans and their families. It looked as if it would have been a lot of trouble to crochet.(I do a little bit of that myself).

This handcraft is not as often done these days. I can crochet, quilt, knit a little and sew, although I seldom do any of it anymore. I do, however, value the work that goes into it.

There was a story about a lady who ran her own store and she was called Grand Betty by almost everyone. Her first grandchild called her that so it stuck just as it does in every family.

I was asked what my first grandchild was going to call me. My reply was that I did not care so long as I was not called “Big Mama.” Now don’t get me wrong. I had a “Big Mama” who I loved dearly. I just thought something else would be better. My first granddaughter called me Maw Maw and it stuck.

Police Chief Glen Carlee was commenting on the fact that much of the recent robberies and burglaries around town had been slowed down by the numerous calls by private citizens to report suspicious behavior.

He urged everyone to continue to keep a close watch.