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Nick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Lighting up Christmas
Mason Sexton stands with lights that he set up outside of his home on Thursday, Nov. 29.
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
With over $1,000 of his own money, UNG freshman makes season shine
FAITH EVENTS
Men’s Prayer Breakfast. 9-10:30 a.m.
second Saturdays. Sept. 8 to March 9.
Hosted by Mount Zion Baptist Church.
Email for location. mzbcinfo@yahoo.
com.
Candlelight service. 6-7 p.m. Dec.
23. Hollywood Baptist Church, 208
Hollywood Church Road, Clarkesville.
hollywoodbapt@windstream.net.
Children’s Christmas program. 11 a.m. to
noon. Dec. 23. Dunagan Chapel United
Methodist Church, 5540 Timber Ridge
Drive, Gainesville, brockmm@gmail.com.
Singles Enrichment/Empowerment.
9-9:45 a.m. Dec. 23, Jan. 27, Feb. 24 and
March 24. Mount Zion Baptist Church,
4000 Thurmond Tanner Road, Flowery
Branch, mzbcinfo@yahoo.com.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. 4
p.m. and 6 p.m. Dec. 24. Free Chapel,
3001 McEver Road, Gainesville.
alexisramgopal@gmail.com.
The LeFevre Quartet and Sounds Of
Jericho. 7 p.m. Dec. 28. The Venue
at Christ Place Church, 3494 Atlanta
Highway, Oakwood.
Bible study. 7-8 p.m. Jan. 9. Mount Zion
Baptist Church, 4000 Thurmond Tanner
Road, Flowery Branch. 770-967-3722 or
mzbcinfo@yahoo.com.
North Georgia Revival Women’s
Conference. 2 p.m. Jan. 12. Christ
Fellowship Church, 139 Hightower
Parkway, Dawsonville. $10.
Marriage Enrichment. 9-9:45 a.m. Jan.
13. Mount Zion Baptist Church, 4000
Thurmond Tanner Road, Flowery Branch.
770-967-3722 or mzbcinfo@yahoo.com.
One freshman at University of North Geor
gia’s Gainesville campus is brightening up his
street this year through hard work, time and
more than $1,000 in Christmas lights.
Mason Sexton, son of Chris and Julie Sexton,
took over the job of decking the house with
lights about five years ago. He’s now 19, and
all told has put more than $1,000 of his own
money into the project each year.
Sexton, who studies communication at
UNG, said it took about 50 to 60 hours to get
the lights up on his house, trees and yard on
Ashford Way between the UNG campus and
the Chestnut Mountain area.
He started out decorating the homestead as
a young boy with his dad.
“I love the true reason for the season and
love seeing the colors,” Sexton said.
Lights are on display at the Sexton’s home in south Hall
Shepherds singing at First Congregational
Holiness Church 5 p.m. Jan 13, at 741
Bradford Street SW Gainesville. Free.
Movie Night. 7 p.m. Jan. 26, Feb.
23 and March 30. Chicopee United
Methodist Church, 3 First St., Gainesville.
770-634-6803 or pegflute@yahoo.com.
Love and Respect Video Marriage
Conference. 6 p.m. Feb. 1 and 8:30 a.m.
Feb. 2. Winder First Baptist Church, 625
Jefferson Highway, Winder. $15-20.
Rethinking Retirement. Retreat to
encourage and equip elders for the work
of discipling the next generation. 9 a.m.
Feb. 15 to 10 a.m. Feb. 17. Ark on Lake
Lanier, 6250 Old Dawsonville Road,
Gainesville.
Maximizing Your Mission TYip. Workshop
preparing you for the mission field. 8 a.m.
Feb. 16. Adventures In Missions, 6000
Wellspring Trail, Gainesville. $25.
David Marsh, theater organist. 3p.m.
Feb. 17. Cumming First United Methodist
Church, 770 Canton Highway, Cumming.
Darrell and Dawn Ritchie. Noon Feb. 26.
Concord Baptist Church, 6905 Concord
Road, Cumming.
ONGOING
Celebrate Recovery. 6:15-9 p.m. every
Friday. Dinner, large group service
and small groups. Children’s ministry
available for children of all ages.
CrossBridge Community Church, 751
Ga. 53 E, Dawsonville. $2-3. 770-883-
2576 orslreeves2@yahoo.com.
Free clothing store. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
every Tuesday. Infant, children and adult
clothing available for those in need.
Donations appreciated. Holy Trinity
Anglican Church, 7049 Spout Springs
Road, Flowery Branch. 678-336-6964.
Gentle Hearts Ministry Food Pantry.
Distribution of food. 5-6 p.m. every
Wednesday. St. Paul United Methodist
Church, 705 Summit St., Gainesville.
770-536-4910.
Senior adult choir. 1 p.m. Wednesdays.
First Presbyterian Church, 800 S. Enota
Drive, Gainesville. Membership not
required. 770-532-0136.
A lifetime
As a child and into my teenage
years, a singular event announced
that Christmas was cornin’.
That was on the day in early
November each year when I went
to the mailbox and discovered that
the Sears Christmas Wish Book
had arrived. I was so excited.
I’d open the box to find a green
or red catalog filled with dreams.
It was one of the happiest days of
the year as I snatched it out, held
it close to my chest, and ran to the
house to show Mama. I wish I had
a dollar for every hour that, over
the years, I spent flipping through
its pages filled with Barbie dolls,
transistor radios and canopy beds.
I didn’t just browse. I studied it.
I wished with all my heart. Over
and over, I read the descriptions.
I turned pages down and then I
would get a piece of notebook
paper and write down the toy or
other item, the catalog number
and the price.
Despite all this research and
of wishing thanks to Sears Christmas book
RONDA RICH
southswomen@bellsouth.net
wishing, I don’t think I ever got
one item from the Sears Wish
Book.
Now, don’t feel sorry for me
because I always got a few good
gifts and often things from the
Wish Book list — I was beautifully
stocked in Barbies, dollhouses,
and her clothes — but Mama
normally went to town and bought
them or Santa brought them.
It’s hard to recall a time when
ordering wasn’t today’s press-the-
button easy. You had to fill out
the order form and send a check
or money order (this was before
the popularity of credit cards).
Mama and Daddy never pos
sessed a credit card in their lives.
And they probably wrote no more
than seven or eight checks a year
which were primarily for taxes
and insurance.
For most of his life, Daddy
faithfully went to the phone and
power companies every month
and paid in cash.
Since I didn’t know where Santa
or Mama might be buying my
Wish List, it never deterred my
enthusiasm for the Sears Wish
Book.
It is one of the lasting joyful
memories of my childhood. I cher
ished then and now every moment
of my Christmas wishing.
The Sears, Roebuck and Co. cat
alog and my people have a long,
tangled history. Into the moun
tains, these catalogs took modern
America and household items
that they would have never seen
anywhere except in the Sears,
Roebuck pages. The catalog and
the U.S. Postal Service kept them
tethered to a world that they could
only imagine, one that laid far
from the hollers of their reality.
Mama told this story:
She was about six years-old and
her sister, Ozelle, was seven. Their
daddy had recently announced
his anointing by the Holy Ghost to
be a preacher in those far-flung
mountains filled with churches
that only met one or two Sundays
a month. A church had called him
for his first pastor position so he
was going to be ordained in a day
long service that would include a
break for dinner on the ground.
Maw-Maw had scraped up
enough coins to buy “tarns”
(berets) for Mama and her sister.
She ordered a red one for Mama
and a blue one for Ozelle. She put
the money in an envelope and it
mailed it off. The girls were spin
ning with excitement. They had
never before had anything store
bought and to get something from
Sears was extraordinary. Every
day, they were disappointed when
they ran to check the mailbox.
The day of the ordination
arrived. Still, no hats. They were
heartbroken. Just as they were
crawling in the wagon to leave, the
postman arrived. With the hats.
“We were the happiest little
girls you ever did see,” Mama
recalled.
Sadly, this previously great
American company is teetering on
the edge of financial ruin, close to
the end.
My Christmas wish this year
is that Sears survives. I wish that
with all my heart.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling
author of “Mark My Words: A
Memoir of Mama.” Visit www.
rondarich.com to sign up for her
free weekly newsletter. Her column
appears Tuesdays.
