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Vol. 3, Issue 8
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Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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2 Come Home / Volume 3, Issue 8
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
Heather Hinrichs ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Letters
Monique Wilson COPY EDITOR
Donna Kay Bell GRAPHIC DESIGN
Merry Christmas!
This year instead of my normal Welcome Letter to all my readers I will be writing my adult letter to Santa. So here it goes.
Sarah Knight/Wheelhouse Design CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Karlyn Dove Beverly Cothran CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Heather Knight Karyn Dove
PUBLISHED BY
Black Bear Publishing LLC All content is protected by U.S. copyright law and may not be reproduced without permission. MAILING ADDRESS
Black Bear Publishing 128 W. Stephenson Street Harrison, AR 72601 ADVERTISING OR SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES
contact Heather at: comehomemagazine@hotmail.com 870.688.6561
Dear Santa, This year I have been kind of good, but I know I could always be better. BUT if you bring me these things? I will promise, promise, promise to be good all year next year. I am not asking for much, and if it is not too much trouble on your way through town you could please drop the following things down my chimney? A real Christmas tree covered completely with silver tinsel. You know the kind that me and my cousins can blow through the tiny gap in our front teeth that we all share. The gap, not the tinsel. Who am I kidding? We will probably share the tinsel too. Silver dollars from Papa that feel heavy and cold when I slide them down deep in my pocket. Cornbread dressing baked in the ugly dented pan by Granny. And Jell-o, any color will do. Please if you have time, make my little brother 3 years old again, so I can hold him on my lap and read him Christmas stories by the lights of the tree before we go to bed. Also, just one more Christmas Eve with all my aunts, uncles and cousins. I want to draw names and exchange gifts. I won’t even complain if I get my meanest uncle’s name who always tells us you (Santa) are not coming this year. I am just getting him the Old Spice gift set anyway. If it is not too much trouble, bring my mom Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew, because she will always smell like this to me. And bring my daddy fresh new hankies, because a gentleman always has a hanky in his pocket for when a lady might need it. Be careful, fly safe, and there will be sugar cookies and milk by the fireplace for you when you get here. Thank you Santa for everything. I promise to work on staying on the Nice list next year even if you can’t manage all my requests. It's the thought (and memories made) that count anyway.
I still believe,
Heather Hinrichs PUBLISHER & EDITOR
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Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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Contents VOLUM E 3 // I SS UE 8
Christmas on the 7 Gilbert River: Small Community, One Big Family Written by BEVERLY COTHRAN
17 In the Kitchen with Karlyn COME HOME KIDS
Dove: 4 Tips on the Perfect Holiday Party with 4 Ingredient Recipes
21 Merry Bee Murals
Written and Photographed by HEATHER HINRICHS
Hospitality and Heart of 26 The Helen Lowery Written by HEATHER HINRICHS Photographed by HEATHER KNIGHT
Written and Photographed by KARLYN DOVE
Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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ROBERT R. HUBBARD, DDS
Gilbert’s Christmas on the River SMALL COMMUNITY, ONE BIG FAMILY BY BEVERLY COTHRAN
The cozy town on the Buffalo River dubbed by meteorologists the coolest town in Arkansas, offers one of the warmest holiday celebrations in the Ozarks. Gilbert’s Christmas Program is an annual event held on the Sunday evening before Christmas. The down home holiday festivity is organized each year by Jeannie Moore, her sisters, relatives, and local Gilbert residents. Attending the Gilbert Christmas is like stepping into a scene of a Hallmark movie or a Norman Rockwell painting. The December air is usually crisp and breaths come out in puffs from the people lined at the door. At first the faces are not familiar, buried beneath coats, hats, and scarves, but as they shuffle into the century old building and peel the layers of their cloaks, the smiles of familiar friends appear. Standing near the doorway, warmly welcoming each arriver by name with comments like, “So wonderful to see you again, I can’t wait to hear you sing,” Is one of the
gathering’s organizers, the emcee for the event, Amie Moore. “It feels like home,” long time attender and performer Liz Norton said of the gathering, “warm and happy.” Norton added, “A small community and a large family.” On a Sunday afternoon in November, I was welcomed to the Gilbert home of Bonnie Baker to reminisce with family members about the Gilbert Christmas gathering. Hospitality has always been central to the Gilbert get-togethers, and as Amie Moore and Jeannie Moore emphasized, the precedent for the congeniality was set by the grand ladies that encircled the table, Kattie Moore, Bonnie Baker and Illa Gene Wheeler. Surrounding me in the room, (eager to share their memories and sentiments), were the relatives and descendants of
Dennis King. Each relayed how the precious memories of the celebrations of their beloved grandparents were the roots of the Gilbert Christmas event. The mere quantity of family members who had gathered to recount the special moments of their past (at least 25) was testament to the love and joy they had shared on those special occasions. Their gratitude for the caring community of Gilbert was equally apparent as many were anxious to acknowledge each person in the community who contributed to the success of the splendid celebration. “This has come full circle.” Tammie Roth said in reflection of the origins of the event from the Christmases of the past in the Gilbert Christian Church and community building as well as those in her grandparents homes.
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As a young girl, 94 year old Gene Wheeler attended family Christmas gatherings at the Gilbert Christian Church. She reminisced about a time she was to perform at the gathering. As the joy of the moment flooded her memory she chuckled, “They took me up and sat me on a stool to say a poem, but I got scared and I ran back to my mother.” Another moment Wheeler recalled was when the Christmas program was set to begin but one of the little angels was not in her place. “So we were all waiting,” Wheeler laughed, “and here came the little girl.” Stretching her hands out to each side of her head, Wheeler embellished, “She had a bow on I know was that big, bright red. She ran behind the stage to get in the program.” “We had beautiful singings and always a beautiful pianist, Aunt Gene Wheeler or Clara King.” Tammie Roth explained, “The family grew and grew until until they moved the celebrations to the halls of the church.” Bonnie Baker added, “They would sing beautiful four part harmonies.” Each year Jeannie Moore designed flyers and posted them in area locations.
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Then she would retrieve her address book and place phone calls to each person who had ever performed at the special celebration, with the reminder, “Can we count on you again this year?” She never had to beg, as Karen
“We had beautiful singings and always a beautiful pianist, Aunt Gene Wheeler or Clara King.” Tammie Roth explained, “The family grew and grew until until they moved the celebrations to the halls of the church.” Coolidge shared, “It doesn’t seem like Christmas unless Gilbert is on the menu.” The festivity at the Christian Church was spearheaded almost twenty years ago when Jeannie Moore sat down with a few close friends and family and expressed her desire to organize an event reminiscent of their family gatherings.
Jeannie reflected on that meeting and remembered telling the group, “There are a lot of people in this community with musical talents and I want to showcase their talents.” Jeannie added that it was always important to get the children in the area involved. The Gilbert Christmas started out fairly simple, a few local musicians and singers, but Amie Moore stated, “It became bigger. It has a life of its own.” The celebration struck a common chord with Gilbert community members and many others from outlying areas. “It’s like it was long, long ago,” musician and performer Jimmy Joe Sasser said of the event. “It reminds me of Christmases I had as a child in the one room school house at Pea Ridge.” As years rolled by, simple traditions emerged that were integral to the characteristic charm of the annual occasion. The date was consistently set as the Sunday evening before Christmas. This allowed family members to arrive and the spirit of the holiday to settle in the hearts in preparation of the joyous time. For many folks like Ferguson’s Country Store owner Wayne Thompson,
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“The hay rides were always a favorite of the children,” Pastor Mays said of his congregational visits to the program. the Gilbert Christmas was when the holiday actually began. Decorations were simple, a few pine boughs and candles in the windows with poinsettias in pots at the front of the room. Attempt was made to limit the program to one hour, beginning at 6:00 p.m. and wrapping up around 7:00 p.m. (However they did not turn away talent and there was always room for one more). Refreshments (hot cocoa and cookies) were always provided by local families and community members and were cheerfully dished out after the program in the neighboring community building. Then, of course, there was caroling. In the early years, carolers strolled through the quiet streets of the town. Over the years, it evolved into a “hayride” of carolers on Ronnie Ramsey’s long trailer with Bill Magness the cautious driver behind the wheel. Caroling always concluded with a pause
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at the Gilbert Cemetery for a special hymn for the loved ones gone on. Music was not the only item on the menu of the program, poems or recitations are sometimes shared. A special time was when Marcie Magness, donning Santa hat and apparel, captivated the attention of the children gathered around her feet with the reading of Twas the Night before Christmas. “The hay rides were always a favorite of the children,” Pastor Mays said of his congregational visits to the program. Jerry Pledger, singer and regular attendant of the event, stated, “Every year I say it was the best one ever and I’m sure I will say that again this year!” Pledger and his wife Linda, Debby Berry, and the Lee brothers, (Steve and Keith) were favorites of the locals. Billy Baker stated that Pledger’s uptempo performances were always crowd pleasers. Regular goers shared his sentiments, but many added that there were moments from past celebrations that were forever etched in their memories. Some of those moments mentioned on that afternoon were of Bobby Younger when he sang O Holy Night and Karen Reeves
Coolidge in sweet harmony with her daughter on Away in a Manger. Tammie Roth relayed a favorite memory from the early years when Jack Eldon Baker, known to Gilbert friends and family as “Uncle Bocky” closed each service by lighting a candle. He touched the tip of his candle to the one next to him and they would repeat this gesture until each candle in the building was lit. All lights in the building were switched off as the congregation united in the song, Silent Night. Edna Lou Grinder of St. Joe, annual performer and attendee, shared that she was forever touched and moved to tears upon hearing and even remembering Liz Norton’s rendition of Sweet Sweet Spirit. Between tears, Edna Lou said, “When it came to the place (in the song), the Holy Place, what a sweet Holy Spirit. It was that place, on that day. I felt the peace in that place and my tears were not because I was sad,” she explained. Bonnie Baker, who was also moved by Liz Norton’s rendition, shared
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THE GILBERT C H R I S T M A S S H O W ©2006 by James Wyeth Daniel Daniel articulated the spirit of the celebration in the song he wrote and performed many years at the community event. VERSE 1: We waited through the summer, We waited through the fall, Seemed like the dead of winter When we finally got the call. We thought she had forgot us, We worried don’t you know, About our invitation To the Gilbert Christmas Show! CHORUS: The church is filled with people, People that you know. They come to sing and hear us play, I really hope it snows At the Gilbert Christmas Show! VERSE 2: The Buffalo River Runs low in the fall. The rains of the winter Should remind us all To pack up your guitar, Your fiddle and your bow; We’ve got to try and make it To the Gilbert Christmas Show! ( R E P E AT C H O R U S) VERSE 3: There’s room for everybody That wants to sing a song. The limit is five minutes, But this won’t take that long. We only want to tell you We love you don’t you know, And we’re glad to be invited To the Gilbert Christmas Show! ( R E P E AT C H O R U S)
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that Norton was a performer who consistently, “sang at the Oratorical Society at Carnegie Hall.” Although many of the entertainers like Chloe Vodvarka (who played classical violin) Jimmy Joe Sasser (who performed regionally in a bluegrass band), Amanda Grace Cowles, (who performed in a band at local theaters) and Sean Bing (who performs in a band in Harrison) were accustomed to the stage, most entertainers were not professional. In fact, children were often the stars. Zion Light Church, located two miles north of the Gilbert square, has attended each year. On the Sunday morning on the date of the Gilbert Christmas event, Pastor Buck Mays rehearsed a song or two with the children at their church to prepare for the performance on Sunday evening at Gilbert. They shuttled the children to the Christian Church in the church van and the children shared the spotlight with the pastor and his wife. Tammie Roth stated that the 2016 Gilbert Christmas gathering was beyond spectacular, She relayed how two very talented groups of Mennonites performed at the event and joined the others on the annual hayride. Roth’s Uncle, Dr Bill Baker, was unable to attend. So the group serenaded him with an angelic choir beneath his bedroom window. Many have reflected with warm
hearts on the gentle, soothing tone of Gerald Richardson’s voice as he sang the beautiful Christmas song, Five Little Fingers, or Silver Bells. “He would bring tears to your eyes,” Billy Baker stated. He had a “heavenly voice.” Recollection of the rehearsals and performance of Down In Mexico by “Uncle Eldon” Eldon King (“The Ozark Evangelist” as he was known throughout the Northwest Arkansas region), brought smiles to the group. King had purchased an instrumental cassette to accompany him and had rehearsed the song numerous times in front of family members. King was among those who performed from the dawn of the event, and like the rest of his amiable family, relished his small town’s singings and celebrations. His distinctive voice could always be heard in the communal songs. He was extremely instrumental in drawing local entertainers and audience members to the program. King was known and well-liked by most people in at least a fifty mile radius, and many of the entertainers who were on the Gilbert program had previously sang or played at one his services. Eldon’s invitation (or insistence) lead to my family’s participation in the program. My dad, Clyde Sherrod, played harmonica and would accompany my sister, Amanda Grace Cowles or with Ken and Arlene Murphy. As long as I
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Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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could recall, Dad begged my sisters and I to sing anywhere he could find us an audience. After we were married and had families we rarely saw one another, more or less sang together. Then there was one year when we were all home and able to sing with my brother and niece while Dad played his harmonica. Christy King Weideman shared her emotional response to that moment. “What a joyful memory of your family singing, playing, and Clyde on his harmonica. He was so happy to be performing with his daughters!” Bonnie Baker said, “The one that blew my mind was when James Daniel sang the songs he wrote about Eldon (King) and the Gilbert Christmas.” Like James Daniel, many performers including Karen Coolidge, Leisa Phillips and Candi Martin, and Amanda Grace Cowles, performed original compositions. Those who attend the Gilbert Christmas rightfully credit the Moore sisters for their significant roles in the orchestration of the extraordinary night. In turn, the Moore’s, Bakers, and Kings emphasized that Gilbert community members like Sarah Bing and the talented musicians and singers (including Glen Underwood, Dave and Margell Corneau, Terry and Lottie Adams, Steve Lee, Keith Lee, and Debby Berry, Bobby Younger and scores and scores of the faithful who share the gift of music each year) are the heart of the exceptional service. Karen Coolidge, another noted performer of the event stated, “It’s not just the people. Though there are those who try to attend or perform at each annual event. You sometimes only see some people only at Gilbert, “Coolidge declared, “It’s just a really neat, quaint fellowship.” Julia Howry stated, “Music brings us together. It brings us joy and tears. It brings richness.” To kick off the holiday season with the warmth and joy of a country church celebration, take the backroads and make the trip down to the coolest little town on the river. The date for the 2017 Christmas Program at Gilbert is Sunday, December 17th, from 6:00 P.M. until the carolers come home. CH
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Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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COME HOME KIDS
IN THE KITCHEN
WITH KARLYN DOVE 4 TIPS ON THE PERFECT HOLIDAY PARTY WITH 4 INGREDIENT RECIPES WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED by Karlyn Dove
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Festive Pinwheels recipe on page 18
Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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Four tips on how to have a wonderful holiday party. TIP NUMBER ONE: Surround
yourself with people you love. It makes the holidays a lot better when you have friends and family with you. TIP NUMBER TWO: Have your party at a place everyone’s comfortable such as Grandma’s house. If the party is at a weird location everyone will act awkward and not be themselves. TIP NUMBER 3: Keep is casual. Nobody wants to hangout in a formal dress or a suit, it makes your
party a lot more enjoyable if you dress in jeans and t-shirts. Or maybe even pajamas! TIP NUMBER FOUR: Have good food. Everybody knows that food makes anything better. So if you have good food at your party everyone will be happy. Remember keep the range of food wide, something sweet, something salty, and always something good to drink. If you follow these four tips you’re sure to have a great holiday party!
Festive Pinwheels
Instructions
Ingredients
Pop microwave popcorn. When popped,
Tortillas, You can find green, red and regular white ones. Be creative. Cream Cheese, 2 8oz. Packages Cheddar Cheese, 1 block shredded
try to remove as many unpopped kernels as you can. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter, marshmallows, and brown sugar. Once melted, pour over popped popcorn.
Green Chilies, 1 small can, optional
If you want to add a festive touch, you
Instructions
Spread popcorn mixture on waxed paper
In a medium bowl stir together cream cheese, cheddar cheese and green
can put in red and green sprinkles. to cool and enjoy
tortillas, spreading out evenly, leaving
Bacon Wrapped Smokies
about a 1/2" border at the edge. Roll up
Ingredients
tightly. Wrap rollups tightly in plastic
Little Smokies, 2 packages
wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to
Bacon, 1 pound
chill for at least an hour or until ready to
Yellow Mustard
serve. Remove from refrigerator and use
Brown Sugar, 3/4 cup
chilies. Divide mixture between the
a sharp knife to slice into 1” to 2” pieces.
Instructions
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Pull Apart Popcorn
Cut bacon into fourths leaving smaller
Ingredients
sheet close together in rows. Squirt
Microwave Popcorn, 2 bags
a line of mustard down each row and
Butter, 1 stick
spread thin with a spatula. Then sprinkle
Mini Marshmallows, 2 cups
brown sugar over the top of the smokies
Brown Sugar, 1/2 cup
and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
strips to wrap around the little smokies. Once wrapped lay them in a deep cookie
Fruit Dip Ingredients Cream Cheese, 1 8oz. package Cool Whip, 1 small tub Lime Jello, 1 small box Fruit: Strawberries, grapes, apples
Instructions Wash fruit. In a medium mixing bowl combine cream cheese, Cool Whip and lime Jello. Stir until smooth. Serve with
fruit. To make red fruit dip you can use
Instructions
Fresh Raspberries
strawberry Jello instead.
In a glass pie plate, spread cream cheese
Red Sugar for the rim of your glass if
Chili Cheese Dip Ingredients Cream Cheese, 1 8oz. package Chili, 1 can your choice of beans or no beans
evenly on the bottom. Next spread your
you want.
chili then top with shredded cheese. Back at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Raspberry Sour Pucker Punch
Cheddar Cheese, 1/2 block shredded
Ingredients
Tortilla chips or Corn Chips
7-Up, 1 two liter
Instructions In large punch bowl put in fresh raspberries, Raspberry Sour Pucker Sherbet and then pour 7-Up over ice cream and serve immediately. CH
Raspberry Sour Pucker Sherbet
Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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20 Come Home / Volume 3, Issue 8
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Merry Bee Christmas BY HEATHER HINRICHS Photography by Heather Hinrichs
If you drive through Harrison especially around the holidays you begin to notice the beautiful painted windows. Each is creatively unique and some tell a story. These creations are the work of Merry Burleson of Merry Bee Murals. I reached to Merry as soon as saw her first window of the season go up. She gave me her schedule and I asked if I could come interview her and take a few pictures. She agreed and on a chilly and extremely windy afternoon I meet
Merry at a local boutique and watched her work. I had never really met Merry before that day but I knew her work. Every year I watched for her windows as they were a gentle reminder to me that Christmas was coming. That afternoon I watched her effortlessly dot dot dot, dash dash dash, swoop and swirl and then all of a sudden she had a full snowstorm painted on the window and never missed a beat telling me all about her boys, her family, and her faith. When Merry’s two sons came along,(now 14 and 11) she realized she wanted to be able to stay at home with them but still contribute financially to the family. In 2006 she realized that painting windows allowed her the flexibility to do just this and she has become very successful at what she does. Over the years she has continually grown her client list. Merry paints windows at around 130 businesses a year with 80 of those being for the Christmas Holiday. Merry will paint on just about anything you want her too but it’s her windows that get the most attention.
Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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I asked Merry how she got started and she told me she comes from a long line of artists. When Merry was little her grandfather worked for the railroad and brought home boxes and boxes of poster paper. While it might have had something printed on one side the back was perfect for drawing. So Merry and her brothers and sisters would draw all the time, especially when they could not be outside playing. Growing up they were not allowed to say they were bored so if they didn’t have anything to do when their chores were finished and it was too cold to go outside they would draw. Merry told me that while her brothers are talented artists it was her and her sisters that turned this love of drawing into careers. Both Merry’s sister turned their talent into graphic design and we are fortunate enough to see Merry’s work all over town. While Merry was influenced by her mother who is a good artist she truly believes her gift is a God-given talent and one she tries to use to help her family financially. It is easy to get mesmerized by Merry’s paintbrush. Watching her hands work her paintbrush as she quickly made what seemed like random strokes then all of a sudden at the last minute it turned into a snowflake or a snowman wearing lipstick
and high heels. She made creating the winter wonderland scenes seem effortless. She mostly does the windows for local businesses but does travel to other towns as far away as Mountain View. Over the years she has painted lots of walls for churches and even a gym floor mascot for a local school. Most everything she does is freehand unless it is a mascot or logo that requires exact detail. She will create anything the client wishes but often she is just left to her own imagination. She likes to create scenes she has never painted before. One of a kind creations that come alive for clients and their customers. “When I paint it really is not about me but it is for the benefit of someone else. I try to make each window unique and original.” Merry told me, “When I paint I keep in mind that I want people to notice the business, I want them to think this is business is a happy, friendly place to shop.” It is important to me that each window I paint for a client is unique and different. I want each of them to feel like I have created a something special just for them. Humbly she told me “ I don’t want to people to see my work and notice that I painted it but instead I want them to see my work and notice the
business that I painted on.” I asked how far Merry is willing to travel to paint on windows and she laughed told me about her mission trip to Haiti where she was recruited to paint an orphanage. Still smiling she said, “I guess you could say I am an international artist.” Merry’s heart and her smile are much like the windows she creates. They simply say don’t notice me but notice how I am happy and friendly. Being around her will make you smile and warm your heart and seeing her windows will make you smile and be glad it is Christmas time. Even her name says Christmas. Merry paints windows year round so if you own a business and want to make people notice and give them something to smile about call Merry and book her. Merry can be found on Facebook at Merry Bee Murals or can be reached by cell phone 870-577-2445. CH
Merry paints windows year round. She mostly does the windows for local businesses but does travel to other towns as far away as Mountain View. Most everything she does is freehand unless it is a mascot or logo that requires exact detail. She will create anything the client wishes but often she is just left to her own imagination.
22 Come Home / Volume 3, Issue 8
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The
Hospitality
Heart
OF HELEN LOWERY BY HEATHER HINRICHS Photography by Heather Knight
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I have known Ms. Helen a long time. Our paths crossed the first summer I moved to Harrison. Helen loves a good yard sale and I love to have them. From the moment I met her, we were never strangers again. At that time she was working full time at FedEx and part-time at Sunshine Nursery. She was just so energetic and her enthusiasm was just contagious. I loved seeing her summer after summer at my yard sales and then when she started at Shelby’s, I was able to see her more often. Helen always greets you with a hearty laugh and great smile. When you are in conversation with her you can really tell she cares about you. It is no wonder her annual wreath party is the talk of the town and always a huge success. Helen Lowery has been hosting her annual wreath party for over 12 years. The very first year her daughter Melinda invited around 10 people from work to Helen’s home, this year Helen welcomed over 50 people to what has now turned into a two-day event. As it has grown Helen told me, “Everyone is invited and all are welcome.” On the weekend before Thanksgiving Helen opens up her home to her friends and their friends and their friends. If you not sure where you are going, you just follow the caravan of cars headed down Union Road. You can’t miss the house because you immediately notice the beautiful evergreen decorations on the gates coming in. Helen greets you at the door and once inside you notice every nook and cranny of Helen’s home is decorated for Christmas. She informed me she has to move stuff out to get it all in. Helen has collected so many Christmas decorations over the years she can barely fit it all into its own shed. Her granddaughter Lauren helped her move everything to her house for this year's party and it took three truckloads. Lauren likes how Helen decorates differently every year. Helen laughed and told me, she can’t remember from year to year how she has decorated with all of her items, so every year is fresh and new. To Helen, this is part of the fun as well
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Helen Lowery has been hosting her annual wreath party for over 12 years. As it has grown Helen told me, “Everyone is invited and all are welcome.�
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Helen gathers pine, cedar, and magnolia branches for everyone to use on their wreaths. Everyone gathers at tables and shares supplies and ideas.
as decorating and making things pretty. Helen loves being resourceful and using what you can find or already have. This is part of the theme of the wreath party. Helen’s motto is you can make things really pretty without spending a lot of money. Helen has a great sense of style and bubbly personality and it shows in her home. It is all just so fun you can’t help but be happy there. Her grandson Miles helps too but mostly he is just there for the food and to help his Nana move things around. Once Helen gets a head count of how many are coming she begins to plan for what they might want to make. All that is asked of those who come is to bring your own grapevine wreath, any ribbon or decorations you want to use and a potluck dish. Helen provides everything else. There are few things southern women do better than potluck dishes at Christmas time. There was food spread out on just about every surface in the
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kitchen, from soups and salads to dips and desserts. Everybody was talking and sharing recipes and ideas and tips for the holidays. I wasn’t real sure where 30 of us were going to put wreaths together but after the food was gone, we headed over to Helen’s brother's place. Over the years as the guest list grew, they had to find a bigger place. Helen has big tents to use, but every year it is just too windy, so her brother Johnny Crawford lets her use the solar house project he is building. Helen gathers pine, cedar, and magnolia branches for everyone to use on their wreaths. She shows you how to fill the wreath in and make beautiful bows. She encourages you and makes you feel like you have created a masterpiece. Everyone gathers at tables and shares supplies and ideas. There is lots of laughing and carrying on too. It is just a wonderful creative atmosphere that really helps get you into the Christmas decorating spirit. Helen
informed me that there are some people who have been every year. But every year there are always new faces and new friends to make. “It just keeps growing and growing,” she told me. I asked her what she will do if next year there are 100 people who want to make wreaths? She laughed and said, “I don’t know, make room for them, I guess.” And she really does mean that. Helen opens her heart and her home during the holidays in hopes of just making everyone feel good. Her hospitality is selfless. I asked Pam Evans, Helen’s long-time friend and this year the one that helped her gather all the greenery, about Helen and she said, “Helen is such a blessing. She always makes everyone feel at home with her friendship, hospitality, and big heart! She’s full of energy and laughter and quite the dancer too!” I didn’t get to witness Helen’s dance moves but I would be willing to bet she can really “Rock it Around a Christmas Tree”. CH
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Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
“My nana’s house has always been the place to be for holidays. Her house is my favorite place to be for Christmas. Every year all of the kids count how many trees she has managed to sneak into her house. She has always been the most creative and energetic person I’ve known. I hope my future house can look as good as hers one day. In fact I’ll probably have to have her decorate it for me. She’s the coolest Nana around and invites people into her home as family, no matter who they are.” Lauren Lowery, grand daugher
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Volume 3, Issue 8 / Come Home
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