A Classic Christmas re-post for you to enjoy from 2004
One Saturday afternoon years ago I was working in the parsonage yard. It was cold and blustery. The first snow of the season took me by surprise. I welcomed it. Christmas was approaching. I noticed an unusual amount of traffic on our county road. All of it was southbound. I stepped into the house to warm up and wrapped my hands around a hot cup of coffee.
“Lois, a lot of traffic is going south today, have you noticed that?”
“It must be Christmas in the Country,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“A lady turns her whole house into a Christmas open house for the weekend. Every room in the house and the whole barn are filled with handcrafted items. It is beautiful. She serves wassail and cookies and plays Christmas music. I hear it’s quite an event.”
“Why don’t you take me,” she asked.
“Sure.”
We all got in the car to check it out. The Christmas in the Country open house was on a country road back a bit of a lane. When we crested the last knoll before her place we saw a pasture field converted into a parking lot. It was full of cars. We had to wait in line to get in. Everyone was in a festive mood, laughing and joking and enjoying themselves. They were all bundled up and wearing Christmas things. It was delightful. We went back year after year and always looked forward to it.
The next year Lois sold her own crafts in the show and did very well for a number of years in a row there. It was mostly women who attended, but I always loved it. It was early in the Christmas season and a good way to get in a Christmas mood.
People will travel a long way for good things. If you can brighten their life they will usually find you wherever you are. If you have a good word for people they want to hear it. If you create an atmosphere of celebration or hope people will want to be around you even if you are well off the beaten path.
If you will help people in the hard struggle of life you will not be alone. If you can show them something good, if you can say something kind, if you bring beauty into their lives, if you can offer fellowship, if you can create a pleasant place for them, if you can give them hope, they will be willing to come to an out of the way place over and over again.
That was true in the beautiful countryside of Knox County Ohio and I believe it is true in downtown Flint, Michigan and wherever you live, too.
Ken Pierpont
Riverfront Character Inn
Flint, Michigan
December 13, 2004
