In December it seems that everything revolves around Christmas and the coming New Year.  Boy, when we look back on this year, what a year it was with the elections, baseball, football, the stock market ups and downs.  We really need a holiday.  I remember my first stocking as a young boy.  It had an orange, apple, pear and hard penny candy.  Do you remember your first stocking?  My mom would say that Christmas was for joy, for giving and sharing.  She always gave to the homeless and the poor because not everyone has happiness at Christmas. 

I’m always proud of the kids at North Allegheny as they conduct a can drive to help the food banks.  What would Christmas be like if we didn’t have a tree in the house?  We never had a great tree.  I call it a Charlie Brown tree.  The Christmas tree dates back to the seventh century.  A monk, as legend has it, used the triangular shape of the fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The first decorated tree was at Riga, Latvia in 1510.  I always look at the birth of Jesus as a new beginning.  One of the things I looked forward to was going to Pittsburgh to do Christmas shopping.  There were no shopping centers out here back then, no Walmart, no Ross Park Mall.  It was a whole day spent walking and looking at all the store windows. 

One thing I remember is that we never put our tree up until the day before Christmas.  People put their trees up earlier now.  I have a friend who usually has a tree 15 to 20 feet tall.  He has some great ornaments on it and could charge a fee to see it.  The ornaments in the 1800s were fruit.  When I was a kid, we would string strands of cranberries and popcorn to put on the tree. 

As a young boy, we went to Midnight Mass.  It was hard for me to stay awake, but I remember the singing of Christmas carols.  For those born on December 25, your sign is Capricorn, your element is earth, and your quality is discipline.  Your birthstone is the garnet and your flower is the carnation.  I leave you with this thought from Charles Dickens:  It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. 

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Joe welcomes any ideas, suggestions or interesting stories.
Email him at northcon@nauticom.net. Please put "Town Crier" in the subject line of your email.

To contact Joe to schedule an appointment to tour his museum at McKnight Elementary School, call the Northern Connection office at (724) 940-2444 or email northcon@nauticom.net. Please put "Museum Tour" in the subject line.

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