Forest City Courier, Jan. 9, 1941
Christmas day has come and gone, and the house is settling down to a quietness that it is hard to get used to. Most of us are glad of the necessity of work. The Christmas tree must be taken out, the decorations taken down and packed away to be used another year. Tissue paper, ribbon and empty boxes are rounded up. Here and there we come across bits of nut shell and orange skins, and maybe there is some of the fruit cake left. We look forward to Christmas probably more than to any other day in the year. Its significance and influence is far reaching. All trains and busses are carrying people back to spend the holidays with their loved ones. Even if for one day only, they will travel many miles to spend this day at the home nest; with mother, dad, sisters and brothers. The love of home and family is precious to all of us. The years are so short and all too soon comes the day of parting, when children grow up, and leave to make their own way in the world. The opportunities that bring absent ones together are, after all, so few, so it is fitting that Christmas time should be made the most important and precious time of the year for knitting family ties closer together. After a few days the time comes for the children to return to college, or to their work in another town, the home children make a search for their school books, wishing they could have just a few days more to play. As the house gets quiet and the memories begin to fade, we realize that we are on the threshold of another year.
A new one, holding we know not what. We can be thankful for the freedom that is still ours, for the right to speak and think as we please, to share in government, to have a home, a career, and to worship as we will without interference. All these liberties seem automatic, as matter-of fact as if they had always been ours. Yet, they have been fought for and acquired, and it is possible that they could be taken away. In the New Year, the youth of our land looks to the future confidently and determinedly with hopes and dreams. A year hence, may we look back, and see them come true with no war on our shores or no participation in foreign wars. The most that the New Year can give us is Peace, and new eyes with which to see and appreciate more the good things around us, and may our eyes discover new meanings in many other opportunities of which we have been ignorant or indifferent, or both.
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Every Sunday’s paper gives beautiful pictures of lovely brides in exquisite satin wedding gowns, and misty bridal veils. I don’t know who said, “All the world loves a lover,” but we love these pictures of these charming brides. We love to see the look of radiant happiness in their faces. The years that lie ahead stretch into a gleaming path of love, as they plan their home and start life together. Then, in the same section of the same Sunday paper you might find other pictures, with perhaps this caption, “Celebrates Golden Wedding Anniversary.” After fifty years there is still a look of radiant happiness and gentle contentment. Those years hold many memories that are dear to them. They have watched their babies grow from childhood to maturity. Perhaps they have stood together, broken – hearted, and looked for the last time on the still features of one of their children. For fifty years they have shared each other’s joys and sorrows, braving the storms together, helping each other over the rough places, standing ever true, loyal and steadfast in their devotion. The years behind them.stretch too, into a gleaming path of love, and as the shadows lengthen, they look back and reflect on a life work well done.
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Courier. Copyright owned by The Daily Courier.
