The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-12-26

L
other customs, duties and pleas
ures it involves.
Of course we want to take this
occasion to send a Christmas
Greeting to everyone. There are
many ways in which this could be
said and we could probably gas
about it for a long time, but any
way we say it, we still mean, "A
Merry Christmas. Speaking of
Christmas cards, you probably
have not read all of yours, for
there are around three dozen
greetings sent to you in The Sky
land Post by your merchants, this
week. If you are not feeling
quite as. merry and joyous as you
should, read their greetings and
you are certain to feel your spir-
it's soaring.
kissing and MistletOe
There are so many things to
talk about at Christmas time, that
we can keep personalities in the
background. Someone asked us
about the custom of the youth
kissing the maiden whom he
catches under the mistletoe. The
custom is supposed to have origi-
mated in Norway, many years ago
and according to tradition, a kiss
under the mistletoe bough is sup
posed to symbolic that the god
dess of love will not permit the
lovers to be harmed. However,
like many customs handed down
to us this one has become mod
ernized and has probably lost
much of it's original meaning and
assurance.
A Joyous Christmas
To the young and those not SO
young, Christmas is joyous
time, and it is fitting that it
should be. Toys bring shouts OF
| JOY from the children; but last
Thursday night, at the Rotary
Club, toys brought peals of laugh
ter from the groWn-ups who were
present. It was not because the
toys within themselves were so
funny, but on account of the
verses which accompanied them.
Levern Johnson was presented
! - Loc of ,oo11cioo1 iocfTIJYro ont Re
and instructions on how to use
them. Ferdinand" were distrl-
buted here and there, as were
other animals, and such toys as
railroads to P. c. Wright, bean
shooter to a minister, urging that
he use it to wake up his snoring
members, fire engine to the
clubs popular president and in
surance man, Langdon Scott, and
many others which proved to be
amusing.
The good time everyone had is
an indication that it does every
one good not to take himself too
seriously, at all times.
! A Merry Christmas
This week when we say "A
Merry Christmas, just what do
we mean by it? We are indebted
to a close friend for the fol-
lowing which we are passing on
to you:
"A Merry Christmas-one of the
most precious, yet most curious
things of the Christmas Season.
It CLEANS from the gittering
store windows, but is not on sale
inside behind the crowded count
ers. It can not be given away, for
it returns to bless the giver while
it slips silently from the grasp OF
him who would clutch it.
ct eludes the costly yet love-
less gift Of precious jewels, but
peeks from the humblest offering
stuffed in the grimy pocket of the
penniless waif. It pours through
spicy odors from oven doors; it
hovers lingeringly in pine-scented
rooms, or glances sharply from
the point of holly spray. 1t sud-
denly leaves the gayest of crowds
to be discovered in the poorest,
most lonely of novels.
1T is no respecter of persons or
country. An attempt to kill it en-
genders despair and desolation,
yet it nevers disappears forever.
It even pervades the flare and
the smoke of battlefields, where
linen kneel, hushed in the pause
that precedes conflict.
"It streams from the painted
face of a cheap rag doll; it CLOVIS
in the smile of a little child; it is
reflected in the eyes of kindly
grandmother.
\ cit is the light from beautiful
star; a road travelled by three
wise men, and the steady rhythm
of hoof beats leading to an I'm
known stable. It is a crowded inn;
young mother, a devoted ia
Their. It is a new born babe, soft,