Congratulations

to Art Contest Winner

Katie Chung
Henderson Ward Stewart
4th grade
Teacher: Bree McMinn
2 Sunday, December 23, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Christmas Greetings

Art contest runners-up

Ava Dowdle Xiyun (Kate) Huang Sara Leyva

Annunciation Starkville Academy Annunciation
3rd grade 1st grade 3rd grade
Teacher: Katie McDill Teacher: Kaley Stribling Teacher: Katie McDill

Chelsea Davis Hughes Oglesby Elizabeth Golden

New Hope Elementary New Hope Elementary Heritage Academy
4th grade 1st grade 4th grade
Teacher: Heather Dodson Teacher: Allison Murphy Teacher: Lisa Naugher
Christmas Greetings The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, December 23, 2018 3
4 Sunday, December 23, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas
Christmas Greetings The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, December 23, 2018 5
6 Sunday, December 23, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Christmas Greetings
Christmas Greetings The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, December 23, 2018 7
8 Sunday, December 23, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Christmas Greetings
Christmas Greetings The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, December 23, 2018 9

What was
your most
magical
Christmas Germain McConnell Vivian Karges Andrea Cannady Angela Sherman Nick Cannady

gift?
Columbus Starkville Columbus Starkville Columbus

“When I was a kid, I “Christmas at my grand- “My grandaddy got me a “When I was really small, “It had to be tickets to
received my first 10-speed ma’s opening gifts with desk personalized. That my dad got me a chalk- Disney World.”
bicycle, with the changing the whole family.” was my favorite.” board. I wanted to be a
gears. It was like a brand teacher.”
new car back then.”

Vivan Spears Tyronne Washington Mia Eichelberger Kristen Williams Demario Jefferson Katheryn Williams
Starkville Columbus Starkville West Point Columbus West Point

“When I found out I was “Pandora Charms.” “My son, who is 18, got “A diamond necklace from “My first train set.” “A laptop I got two years
pregnant with my first me the Twilight Zone. It’s my husband.” ago.”
daughter.” the first gift he’s bought
for me with his own mon-
ey.”

Art contest runners-up

Abby Edwards Anna Crawford Fowler Henry Coker

Heritage Academy Heritage Academy Oak Hill Academy
4th grade 3rd grade 2nd grade
Teacher: Lisa Naugher Teacher: Emily Wheeler Teacher: Leah Montgomery

Chloe Bowen John Parker Woolfolk Riley Brown

Oak Hill Academy Starkville Academy Annunciation
1st grade 1st grade 4th grade
Teacher: Wendy Powers Teacher: Mrs. Stribling Teacher: Katie McDill

Need to make room after

Santa comes? We’ve got
storage space for you.

FRIENDLY CITY
mini warehouses
friendlycitymini.com | 662-327-4236
10 Sunday, December 23, 2018
Christmas trees and their decorations have evolved
By LEE REICH
The Associated Press
I
n the story of St. Boniface,
a Thunder Oak decorated
with lit candles and gilded
apples was glowing in the dark
forest one Christmas day in
8th century Germany. The
pagan god Thor was to be
appeased with a human sacri-
fice. But Wynfred, an English
Christian missionary later
to be known as St. Boniface,
split the giant oak into four
parts with one stroke of an
ax, revealing a small fir tree
nearby ... the first Christmas
tree, perhaps.
Some arboreal history
The exact origin of the
Christmas tree isn’t known,
but for centuries, people have
had the urge to decorate trees
at this time of year.
In ancient Rome, decorated
trees were part of the festival
of Saturn, celebrated begin-
ning Dec. 17. The Paradise
Tree of the Middle Ages was a
fir tree hung with red apples,
a prop used in the Biblical play
telling the story of Adam and
Eve. That tradition was moved
into homes after the “miracle
plays” were banned in the 15th
century. In Germany, a written
record from 1604 describes
How much will this season cost holiday shoppers?
By StatePoint
A
ccording to one
quirky and fun annual
economic indicator,
the cost of holiday shopping
is on the rise this year, at
least according to the song
“The 12 Days of Christmas.”
To purchase all the gifts
mentioned in the classic
holiday song, it will cost 1.2
percent more than it did in
2017, according to the PNC
Christmas Price Index, the
35th annual holiday eco-
nomic analysis by The PNC
Financial Services Group.
The 2018 price tag for all
the gifts was calculated at
$39,094.93, approximately
$450 more than last year’s
cost. For the full report,
visit www.pnc.com.
“True loves” everywhere
take note, you’ll need a bit
more money on-hand to fill
the stockings on the mantle
this season.
Dear Boys and Girls,
Thank you for all the nice letters this year. We are
loading up the sleigh and the reindeer are ready to
deliver all the toys. Rudolph has polished up his nose in
case we need him to help us Christmas Eve. I hope you
all have been good this year.
Don’t forget to leave me some milk and cookies.
You can leave some food for the reindeer too if you’d
like. They like to eat carrots and oats.
Mrs. Claus and I would like to wish you all a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Christmas Greetings
trification in rural areas made
electric Christmas tree lights
more popular.
The tree
The “technology” of the tree
itself has also advanced over
the years, mostly to adapt to
warmer and drier homes. Firs,
spruces and some pines were
found to be the best evergreens
at holding onto their leaves
under these conditions, both
for looks and to reduce the
fire hazard from dry leaves
indoors.
Another way to offset the
effects of today’s drier homes
is to put the tree in the coolest
spot, or at least not right where
an air duct spills hot air out
into the room. Spraying the
tree with an anti-transpirant
such as Wilt-Pruf also helps.
Keeping the base of the tree in
water — after making a clean
Christmas tree decoration trends have changed tremendously over the years from using candles to
gas jets to electric lights. cut — allows water to enter the
base to replace moisture lost
trees decorated with paper incandescent bulb was invent- through the needles. A couple
roses, apples, and figures of
And now for some lights ed. Edward Johnson, a friend of tablespoons of bleach in the
In the late 19th century, gas water inhibits bacterial growth
Adam and Eve and a serpent. and partner of Thomas Edi-
jets and then electric lights which clogs the stems.
The custom of decorating son, hand-wired 80 “patriotic”
were tried as replacements for Still, Christmas trees — and
trees at Christmas gained pop- red, white and blue bulbs and
candles. Christmas — don’t last forever.
ularity in the British Empire wound them around a rotating
According to the National You may be heartened to know
in 1841 when Queen Victoria evergreen tree in his home.
Electrical Contractors As- that the residents of Christmas,
and Prince Albert celebrated In subsequent years, publicity
sociation, the first electric Florida, live up to their name
the birth of their first son with (such as Grover Cleveland
Christmas lights were lit in
a decorated tree at Windsor lighting the White House tree by maintaining a year-round
1882, three years after the
Castle. with electric lights) and elec- Christmas tree.
Yes Virginia,
there is a
Santa Claus
Dear editor: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there
is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, “If you see it in THE
SUN it’s so.”
Please tell me the truth; is there a
Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 West Ninety-Fifth Street
V
irginia, your little friends
are wrong. They have been
affected by the skepticism of
a skeptical age. They do not believe
except they see. They think that
nothing can be which is not com-
prehensible by their little minds. All
minds, Virginia, whether they be
men’s or children’s, are little. In this
great universe of ours man is a mere
insect, an ant, in his intellect, as
compared with the boundless world
about him, as measured by the
intelligence capable of grasping the
whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus. He exists as certainly as love
and generosity and devotion exist,
and you know that they abound and
give to your life its highest beauty
and joy. Alas! how dreary would be
the world if there were no Santa
Claus. It would be as dreary as if
there were no VIRGINIAS. There
would be no childlike faith then, no
poetry, no romance to make tolera-
ble this existence. We should have
no enjoyment, except in sense and
sight. The eternal light with which
childhood fills the world would be
extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You
might as well not believe in fairies!
You might get your papa to hire
men to watch in all the chimneys on
Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus,
but even if they did not see Santa
Claus coming down, what would
that prove? Nobody sees Santa
Claus, but that is no sign that there
is no Santa Claus. The most real
things in the world are those that
neither children nor men can see.
Did you ever see fairies dancing on
the lawn? Of course not, but that’s
no proof that they are not there.
Nobody can conceive or imagine all
the wonders there are unseen and
unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s
rattle and see what makes the noise
inside, but there is a veil covering
the unseen world which not the
strongest man, nor even the united
strength of all the strongest men
that ever lived, could tear apart.
Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, ro-
mance, can push aside that curtain
and view and picture the supernal
beauty and glory beyond. Is it all
real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this
world there is nothing else real and
abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he
lives, and he lives forever. A thou-
sand years from now, Virginia, nay,
ten times ten thousand years from
now, he will continue to make glad
the heart of childhood.
Unsigned New York Sun editorial
from September 21, 1897
Christmas Greetings The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, December 23, 2018 11
12 Sunday, December 23, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Christmas Greetings