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SATURDAY,
DECEMBER 23, 2006
‘Twas two
days before
Christmas
With any luck I am in
Cudjoe Keys (mile
marker 33), Florida
as you are getting your paper
in the mail and reading this
column. And by the close of
business 2006, I will have -
by myself
- driven
from the
Upper
Peninsula
o f
Michigan
to Key
West, Fla.
And if my
counting
serves me
right, that
Jane Winston
The Left Rail
means I have been on nine
different Interstates and
according to Map Quest trav
eled 1900 miles to accom
plish this feat.
Not many can say they
have done that in one year
and certainly not many who
are as “long in the tooth as
I,” so I would like to say
on this Dec. 23, “Thanks
for good health, confidence,
great vision and a great
vehicle.”
And of course I’m now
pondering a trip from
Charleston, S.C. where I
once lived to Seattle, Wash,
where I also once lived! And
that trip would be about
3,000 miles!
Ponderings
Semester break is under
way, and with this break
I have been able to avail
myself of the HDJ quiz
which always makes me
think I am in training for
Jeopardy or Who Wants To
Be A Millionaire.
If you haven’t tried
Charlotte’s quiz on
Saturdays, make that one
of your New Year’s Eve
Resolutions.
I suggested to my friends
at Indiana University that
perhaps they should consid
er recruiting football play
ers here in middle Georgia.
And then I wondered what
good, self-respecting mid
dle Georgia football player
would really want to go north
to play for a big 10 school in
the cold and snow?
None! And I suppose that
is one small reason why IU
doesn’t recruit in middle-
Georgia! Congratulations to
Northside and Peach County
on their state champion
ships!
Even though I am a total
basketball fan, I can still
respect those who are so
involved in the “sport of the
south.”
What’s Your Sign
Okra (December - Jan. 20.
2007) You are tough on the
outside but tender on the
inside. Okra have tremen
dous influence. An older
Okra can look back over his
life and see the seeds of his
influence everywhere. You
can do something good each
day if you try.
Teachers grade every
thing
There is not a teacher any
where who can’t relate to
what I am going to say. No
matter what I do, I assign it
a grade.
The homemade cookies of
last week were only a C+; I
don’t bake often enough to
do it right. The decorations
in and around my house are
A+ this year! I have gained
a little weight so I have gone
from looking C- to F+ in a
few short weeks.
I just finished A Christmas
Carol which was a solid B+
production, and I turned
in C- to B+ performances
depending on which night.
My school year was a mis
erable C+ for which I am
disappointed. Some columns
are C- and some A+, and the
point of all this is I surely
hope you have an A+ holi
day season!
Until next week
“Like what you do. If you
don’t, then do something
else.” - Paul Harvey
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Those time
tested toys
The other night I was
flipping through
the channels and
caught the part of The
Santa Clause II where
Santa was magically giv
ing out toys to adults
that they had wanted
for Christmas when they
were children and yet
never received.
They
must
have
went
on eßay
or made
really
good
copies
of some
classic
1960’s
toys
Jillinda Falen
Antiques
that even I remember as a
child! There was Rock’em
Sock’em Robots, Battling
Tops, Green Ghost and
many others. By the way,
that is how you can tell
that you have become an
antique yourself when
the toys of your childhood
start showing up in the
antique mall!
Believe it or not there
is actually a National Toy
Hall of Fame Museum in
Rochester, New York. It
was originally established
in 1998 in a children’s
museum in Salem, Oregon
that outgrew its home and
was acquired by a larger
organization and moved
to New York.
See FALEN, page 6C
I am dreaming of an amber Christmas tree
Let’s see where this
Christmas story
begins. Oh yes. Now,
I remember. It started with
my godmother, Mary Nell,
who was shopping with me
back in the summer.
“I found you a Christmas
tree,” she said, sidling up
to me while I selected place
mats. I wasn’t looking for a
Christmas tree. Especially
in July.
Still, obediently, I followed
her to the Christmas depart
ment of the store where she
stopped and smilingly swept
her hand toward a huge,
amber-colored silk tree cov
ered in lights and decorated
stunningly.
Immediately, I knew it
was perfect for my two-story
foyer that is painted the
color of a luscious, baked
yam. The tree is a soft, gen
tle color that some people,
wrongly, persist in calling
orange. It is indisputably
amber. Amber.
I was paying for it when
I was suddenly struck with
buyer’s remorse. I real
Lifestyle
Cookies, cakes and caring
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ized that a large brand new
amber-colored tree would
require all new ornaments.
Lots of
them.
Too
much
shopping
and too
much
money to
my liking
but I was
commit
ted so I
plunged
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Ronda Rich
Columnist
forward.
This is how I came to have
three Christmas trees, tri
pling my former contribu
tion to the Christmas spirit.
I have built quite a collec
tion of wonderful, sparkling
iridescent white, clear and
silver ornaments, which
drip gorgeously from a tree’s
limbs. So, I put a tree in my
bedroom using those deco
rations, added a glistening
green foil one in the corner
of the kitchen and suddenly
I, who had always believed
that one tree was enough,
Savannah and Santa Sonny
had a trinity of trees.
For decorating the new
one, I called in my sister,
Louise, who puts up - and
I am not making this up
- eight Christmas trees in
her house. She also has an
exact antique replica of the
sleigh used in that famous
Currier and Ives print. In
other words, she is the CEO
of Christmas in our family.
She loves to design
Christmas trees so I opened
the gilded holly cage and let
her at it.
“Just wait until you see
the diva tree I designed for
you,” she promised.
When she had finished,
my new tree was covered
- and it is stunning - with
glitter, baubles, bows, flow
ers, feathers and two long,
flowing pieces of orange,
sparkle-flecked fabric that
are tucked in and puffed
down the tree.
It is, admittedly, a mas
terpiece. It should be in a
magazine.
“This is Halloween fabric
that I got for 60 percent
off,” Louise said proudly.
I rolled my eyes. “Great.
I’ve got a Halloween
Christmas tree.”
“But isn’t it beautiful?”
she asked admiringly.
“When my mom told
me you had an orange
Christmas tree, I couldn’t
imagine what it would look
like,” said young Haley a
few days later. “But it’s so
pretty.”
I cut my eyes over at her
mom, Patti. “Don’t be tell
ing people that I have an
orange Christmas tree. It’s
amber.”
“I’ve never seen a bronze
Christmas tree,” opined
Mike when he came by to
help me hang a picture.
“It’s not bronze. It’s
amber,” I corrected him.
“Oh.”
When he got ready to
leave, he turned and took
one last look at the spar
kling masterpiece.
“Now what color did you
call that?”
“Amber.”
He shrugged and left.
SECTION
c
The members
of the Bonaire-
Kathleen
Connection were
hard at work
Dec. 16 selling
baked goods
and frozen cas
seroles for the
holidays. The
group, which
has Karing
for Kids as its
motto, were rais
ing funds for the
Joanna McAfee
Foundation to
fight childhood
cancer through
research and
support the fam
ilies of children
with cancer.
Journal/Charlotte Perkins
Savannah
Dotson,
8, shown
here with
Gov. Sonny
Perdue,
was
among the
guests at a
Christmas
party held
recently
at the
Georgia
Governor’s
Mansion.
A student
at Lake Joy
Elementary
School
where
she was
recently
named
a “star
student,”
she is the
daughter
of Dustan
and Cindee
Dotson.
Her
father is
employed
at Houston
Fertilizer,
Perdue’s
Houston
County
business.
Contributed
When my brother-in
law saw it, he remarked,
“That’s a real pretty orange
Christmas tree.”
“It’s amber.”
There’s two big problems
with this tree, though. First,
I don’t know how I’m going
to take it apart to put it
away. It looks complicated.
The other is that I will never
be able to duplicate Louise’s
perfection next year.
But at least for this year,
I have a beautiful, amber
- not orange, mind you -
tree draped in Halloween
fabric. I never dreamed of
such. Of course, I never
dreamed that I’d have three
Christmas trees either.
Which mean that dreams
do come true.
So now I’m dreaming
that Louise will return next
year and, again, put up my
amber-colored tree.
Ronda Rich is the best
selling author of What
Southern Women Know
(That Every Woman Should)
and The Town That Came
A-Courtin’.