Christmas in Fort Mill is a throwback holiday

Thanksgiving has passed and before you know it, we’ll be stowing away Christmas decorations and flocking to the gym for the first two weeks of 2017 before slumbering back to the couch. So now seems like as good a time as ever to take a breath and give thanks for what we have in our own backyard.

This time of year, I still like the small town feel. The tree lighting in downtown Fort Mill, where an elementary school chorus belts out songs and we drink cocoa out of Styrofoam cups is about as homespun as one can get. It sure beats going to Christmasville in Rock Hill and “skating” on white plastic!

Even though tree selling stands abound in vacant parking lots, I still like the fact we can go less than 30 minutes away and chop down our own piece of timber to dress with tinsel and ornaments. Something about trudging through the woods with a saw and cart to lop off a pine tree seems like a way of connecting with ancestors who walked five miles to school in six feet of snow.

These things beat the commercial side of life every year. Going to a craft fair at the Dairy Barn. Seeing downtown and main streets decorated in green and red. Seeing a grocery store checkout person in a Santa hat. It isn’t exactly right out of a scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but it feels like stuff from a time long ago.

I need that. I tire of the Christmas push immediately following Halloween. I tire of people rushing from the table after plucking the turkey carcass to waddle to WalMart for Black Thursday afternoon with a full belly. I tire of people correcting me to say “Happy Holidays” when they should be glad I even smiled and said a few words.

What I don’t tire of and hope I never do is seeing the joy of Christmas on the faces of loved ones, children and adults alike. I don’t tire of having a feast of seven fishes on Christmas Eve or a crown roast on New Year’s Day. I don’t tire of claymation specials with Yukon Cornelius and Rudolph.

I don’t tire of getting up Christmas morning in sweatpants and opening presents before sunrise. But most of all, I don’t tire of taking time to enjoy the holiday. Put aside work, the cellphone and the computer for a couple of days and take in the sights and sounds of Christmas.

After being inundated with nasty political ads from June to November, it is sorely needed. So sit back with a mug of hot chocolate and have visions of sugar plums and Clarence getting his wings.

Happy Holidays!

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Christmas in Fort Mill is a throwback holiday."