It's been a year since I've written, and today seems to be the day.
You may not know it, Santa, but you've been indirectly responsible for some happiness in our town.
Take Hap Stansbury, for instance. Ole' Hap hasn't been feeling too well lately, but wouldn't you know his wife Grace got lucky one day at the drawing and walked away with $50.
Ole' War Hosses of Company B, Allen Holmes, Louie Peterson, Ray Price and our many friends in the Last Man's club who spiffed up this year's meeting by passing around copies of Playboy, are determined as ever to make this a cheerful Christmas.
We had one of the finest gifts from the great-grandmother.
The great-grandchildren have never had Christmas day at home. We've always made it a point to spend that day with the "senior" members of the family.
So, on Christmas morning, the youngsters bolted out of bed, raced down the hall and leaped into the packages.
That was generally pretty early in the morning and the anxiety that got the youngsters up early was helpful for the planning of the day.
After breakfast, we loaded the youngsters and a few of their gifts and drove to the great-grandmother's.
Well, that's the way it's been for all these years . . . that is until this year.
The great-grandmother invited the family to her home in Wilber again this year for roasted duck, sticky dumplings, sauer kraut and a few other juicy items, but suggested the meal be served on Sunday, December 24 . . . so the younger members of the family could be at home with their families on Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas babitschka, Spon-em bohem (Blanche Duerfeldt will translate that as "Merry Christmas to grandmother and God be with you.")
This is the last Christmas the Ira Glassers will have at Arbor Lodge State park and mansion.
We're going to miss the Glassers here at the News-Press. We've called their home many times for stories during their 12 years here.
And during the Arbor Day Centennial celebration we spent a lot of time in the mansion doing pictures and stories before and during the 100th birthday.
Best wishes to the Glassers on their new life m retirement and many blessings in the years to come.
We saw a lot of smiling youngsters at the Northside school program the other night that you will be visiting, Santa.
We were positioned next to a wall and all the boys and girls who performed had to pass by us. We never saw one crabby lady or grouchy young man, Santa. They smiled away and sang their best.
(Ho, ho, ho . . . this is The Buck's last year in PTA).
The best thing we can think of as a Christmas gift for our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Baker, is for nice weather next weekend so that their family and many friends can attend their 50th wedding anniversary.
The Bakers moved into the Max Snodderly home north of us. Max told Alice he wanted to sell the house because his neighbor to the south bugged him for his electric charcoal starter. (The truth is, Max couldn't compete in the gardening department against Millie).
The other night we had a little get-together at the Fred Wusk home on the south of us. I can't stand the idea of retired farmers sleeping in the morning so I tippety-tap on the Wusk window occasionally just to check him out.
What I'm working up to is the meal . . . lawdy, lawdy . . . that chicken was the best, Mrs. Lindsey's cole slaw with onions made us go for seconds, and the gravy was ummmgood.
After that meal that made me miserable, we settled down for an evening of pitch. I happen to be an expert at shooting the moon while loading my pipe and reading thoughts of my opponents, but I ran up against a stumbleblock . . . Walter Eden.
I swan, I think the problem was that I was sitting at the wrong angle to the direction of the bathtub . . . Walter cleaned the table and was still smiling when he shoveled down the ice cream.
The following lines were written by one of my sisters and mailed to me before shipping overseas over 20 years ago.
I carried the piece of paper for many years after the Navy hitch and have since sealed the yellowed paper in plastic and keep it in my desk.
The message meant a lot to me at the time of war and the memory of a younger sister writing it, is still quite strong.
"When Thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.
"When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame linger upon thee.
"For I am the Lord thy God, thy Savior. Fear not, for I am with thee."
Merry Christmas from the Beaumonts:
Ivan Millie Keaton.
Denise [illegible] Jeanna.