Monday, December 15, 2008
Holiday stories filled with joy
Tom Angleberger
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind?
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Readers, thank you for the wonderful gifts.
Your stories of Southwest Virginia Christmases past and present have been wonderful. Good enough to melt the heart of a cynical newspaper columnist, even.
The best thing I can do in return is to share as many of them as possible. So for this week, here are stories of Christmas present -- activities, traditions and possibilities which can still be part of the season this year.
And we'll start with one that could only happen in Roanoke. ...
Margaret East recalled the year her daughters were angels in a Christmas pageant. Driving home, still in costume, one of the girls made the connection between the Star of Bethlehem and the Mill Mountain Star.
"So ... up the mountain we drove! The girls were all excited and ran to the lookout, which they pretended was the manger. They looked up at the big bright star and suddenly the 'two angels' sang 'Glory to the Newborn King' It is one of our best Christmas memories, and we came down the mountain with great joy in our hearts."
Other families follow different lights.
"Every year we make the trip to the Elks Lodge," wrote Kim Silvey of Salem. "It always looks the same, but it still brings back memories from when I was a kid too. I hope that they can continue this so it will be around for my kids and grandkids."
"There is a Christmas wonderland in Botetourt County, and I have been taking my parents to see it since 2005," wrote Angela Watkins of Natural Bridge Station. "It is the Timmermans' Christmas light display, on Stoney Battery Road, beside Cave Rock, in Troutville."
The thousands of lights, the Ferris wheel, the whirligigs all combine to take Watkins back to her childhood.
"I feel like I can walk into those lights ... and just melt into the happiness of the colors, when there was no conception of bad people and bad things and no worries other than whether I was going to be good and Santa was going to bring me that stuffed Lassie that I wanted."
Odetta Terry of Meadows of Dan has a memory of a day spent with her grandsons in 1989, but it's an activity that many families are still doing this year.
"My daughter, Zelda (their aunt) and I took the day off from work, picked the boys up at 7:30 in the morning and headed for the mall."
She's talking about Valley View Mall, where the boys spent hour after hour riding the train, riding the escalators, eating pizza and checking out Santa and his workshop.
"We didn't do any shopping or walk anywhere else," Terry recalled. "They were so busy and had such a good time that the day went by so fast. Valley View was so festive with the Christmas music and kids everywhere. I smile even now when I think about what a wonderful day that was!"
Genevieve and John Goss of Fincastle wrote in to tell me about the first time they saw the town's Christmas parade.
"Lots of folks of all ages lining the streets, Lord Botetourt returning from the past in an antique car, our neighbor boy riding his pony, the kazoo band, the German exchange student from Lord Botetourt High School hamming it up on the school FFA float -- the whole scene reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting!"
And lastly, from the New River Valley, comes the story of a Christmas miracle.
Jean Umberger, the volunteer coordinator of Radford's Elf Shelf, starts with the story of her first experience with the charity, which helps the less fortunate have a good Christmas.
"I entered the Fellowship Hall of Grove Church and found a fantasy land with festive red tablecloths piled high with toys and gifts and volunteers in brown aprons shepherding clients around selecting gifts for their children. The coordinator came rushing up, asking me to help."
Umberger was soon helping a blind woman pick out gifts for her son.
"The Christmas spirit filled me with such joy. I was grinning from ear to ear."
When Umberger retired from teaching, she took on a bigger role with the Elf Shelf, wrangling some 150 volunteers every year. It's not hard to find helpers, she wrote, but one year something unusual happened.
"I remember the Christmas of 2000, when we received 50 donated bicycles the night before clients were to come -- ALL UNASSEMBLED! We panicked."
She sent out an SOS by phone, by e-mail and by radio.
"Then, the miracle started. Students, neighbors, senior citizens, young parents w/ children in tow appeared with wrenches and screwdrivers. Each group staked out a site between the laden tables and started assembling a bike. Twenty-six miracle workers came and the job was done by 9 p.m."
Next week: Your stories of Christmas past. I've already received more that I'll be able to print, but it's not too late to send in your story, especially if you're able to add details about Christmas visits to downtown Roanoke's department stores and small shops. Please write to the e-mail address below.
Got a question? Got an answer? Call Tom Angleberger at 777-6476 or send an e-mail to woym@roanoke.com. Don't forget to provide your full name, its proper spelling and your hometown.
Look for Tom Angleberger's column on Mondays.
