The streets of lovely old Jonesborough are decorated for Christmas with great bunches of evergreen magnolia branches, and all of the downtown lampposts wear wreaths fastened with bright red bows. Inside the Visitors Center, Christmas trees decorated by various community groups add a festive air to what will soon be frenzied activity. Santa Claus is coming soon and horse-drawn carriages decorated with tiny lights roll through town; storytellers tell their favorite tales, and most likely, new stories will evolve from this years' holiday. Grandma's and grandpa's will dredge their memories for tales from childhood to entertain the grandchildren, telling them of the days when horses were stabled under the beautiful courthouse and folks hitched their horses and buggies to the posts outside.
Tomorrow night, carolers carolers dressed in Victorian era clothing will fill the air around the old courthouse with the songs we all love and remember from childhood, and next week, the magical Christmas Parade brings Santa to town, and we can pretend to be children again.
If the paragraphs above are sappy and filled with a touch of sadness, you've caught the gist of what this piece is about. I love this beautiful and well-tended place , but it really is dream-like. I've often likened it to Brigadoon, and I'm far from the only one, but running underneath the carefully reconstructed beauty is real life - the joy and pain that everyone knows. Perhaps the big holiday celebration this year will help us forget burgeoning unemployment/underemployment, homes lost, rising medical costs and crazy weather.
This is not the time for those of us blessed with abundance to hold back from giving to those who are not.Join me in sharing with those who are less fortunate this year. Find something warm and give it to someone who is cold. I promise it will warm your heart, and the fragrance of joy will breathe its sweetness over your soul, especially if you make that commitment one that will last all year long.
About Me
- saundra
- Born in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, I am a genuine Florida Cracker--a descendent of sturdy women and men who farmed their way south from North Carolina in the early 1800's. I am a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Social Science, and earned an MA in Education/Storytelling from East Tennessee State University. My work is deeply influenced by a love and reverence for the natural world and environmental issues and my love of story. Performance Photos by Valerie Menard, Silentlightimages.com.
