Texas Tidbits: The Wonderfullest Christmas in the United States of America

Old Time Christmas

Christmas is only nine days away. Doesn't seem possible, does it? As the big day draws near, the "visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads" are closer to reality. That particular phrase comes from "Twas the Night Before Christmas", a story we've all heard and love. But what about the day after Christmas? My first thought about the day after Christmas is to avoid any and all kinds of shopping by any means possible! I have seen enough brutality - the punching, the spitting, the hair pulling - and that's just the little old ladies in the produce section! You should see the younger women in the toy department! I don't even want to get into the bloodshed going on over the Dora the Explorer doll house. It's a sad commentary on the human condition. But! it's funny as hell....if you are watching from a safe distance.

Back to the day after Christmas. A Texan named John Henry Faulk, a name that is vaguely familiar to me, was a teacher, Marine medic in WWII, a broadcaster and author. For today, I don't want to focus on the details of his life, but rather his work. A specific piece of work to be exact. In 1974, Faulk recorded a piece for radio to be broadcast after Christmas. And what a story it was! The first paragraph is as follows:

"The day after Christmas a number of years ago, I was driving down a country road in Texas. And it was a bitter cold, cold morning. And walking ahead of me on the gravel road was a little bare-footed boy with non-descript ragged overalls and a makeshift sleeved sweater tied around his little ears. I stopped and picked him up. Looked like he was about 12 years old and his little feet were blue with the cold. He was carrying an orange."

This is a great story! It's not your typical Santa saves Christmas story, it runs much deeper than that. It'll take you several minutes to read it, but please do. You'll be glad you did and maybe you'll want to share it with somebody. The full story is right here. Enjoy.

Oh, yeah, I hope you have the "wonderfullest Christmas in the United States of America".